Let’s get right to it: From the moment on Thursday night when the Rangers begin their quest to win the Stanley Cup, nobody but nobody will be subject to harsher inspection under the spotlight than Rick Nash.
That’s the burden when great expectations are met by a three-goal output in 25 playoff games the way it went last year for Nash, who did all of his scoring in the conference final against Montreal.
That’s the burden when the NHL’s third-leading goal-scorer in the 10 seasons of the hard-cap era (Alex Ovechkin has 475 followed by Jarome Iginla with 339 and Nash at 320) has a total of five playoff goals in 41 career games.