Nash Continues Building Bridges
By Greg Dew,  Columbus Wired (3/6/03)

The Blue Jackets tackled two clichés in less then two minutes in earning their 5-4-overtime victory over the Vancouver Canucks Thursday night at Nationwide Arena. The clichés being if at first you don’t succeed try, try
again and the other being you must learn from your past mistakes.

The first try, and therefore mistake, came courtesy of Scott Lachance. The Jackets defenseman had a golden opportunity to end the game on a breakaway just a minute into overtime.

“That was the slowest breakaway I have ever seen in my life,” said interim head coach Doug MacLean.

To be fair, Lachance did eventually take a shot at the top shelf of the net but Canuck goaltender Alexander Auld was able to keep it out of the back of the net. Lesson learned, do not send a defenseman to do a goal-scorers job.   Just over a minute later Rick Nash was patrolling the ice looking for a
chance to shine against one of the top lines in hockey.

“You know, that is a great experience for the kid to go out there on a four on four,” McLean said.

Or how about a one on one? That was the position Nash found himself against Auld off of a perfect pass from Jaroslav Spacek. On this breakaway, in the hands of a scorer, Nash calmly lifted the puck over Auld to score the game winner and give the Jackets the season series over the Canucks.

“You can’t really forget one like this, especially to beat the number one team in the conference,” said Nash. “It was exciting, I got my chance and Spacek made a great pass. It was right on the tape and all I had to do was flick it over the goalie’s shoulder.”

Getting to Nash’s heroics necessitated the Blue Jackets tying a team record in the second period by scoring four goals, two of which by Ray Whitney.

“You see us, for whatever reason score in bunches at home. Once we get the first one, we usually get the next one in the next three or four minutes,” said Whitney.

The Jackets didn’t even wait those three minutes tonight. Finding themselves down 2-0 on goals by Todd Bertuzzi and Marcus Naslund, Columbus registered its first goal on an unassisted goal by Whitney. Not a minute later, Spacek scored on a set-up from Tyler Wright and Nash to even the game at two.

Getting into the quick-scoring act, Brendan Morrison scored thirteen seconds later for Vancouver to put them back on top. The lead would hold for another three minutes until Whitney scored his second unassisted goal to once again even the score. Whitney helped tie the club record for goals in a period when Spacek and he assisted Geoff Sanderson on a goal that gave Columbus their first lead of the night.

The third period saw Vancouver tie the game on a goal by Bryan Allen. It also saw Wright leave the game with a deep thigh bruise. Wright’s injury may have been the excuse needed to let Nash on the ice for the overtime period.

“I’m sure the only reason I was out there was because Wrighter was hurt,” said Nash. “But it was exciting, I got my chance.”

You can be sure McLean took notice on how Nash converted on that chance.

“What a play. I’d like to ride his coattails to finish out my career,” he said.