Nash playing through rust, ankle problem
Friday, December 30, 2005
Aaron Portzline
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
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CHICAGO — It has been been six games since Rick Nash returned from a sprained left knee, and the Blue Jackets left winger acknowledges that he’s still struggling with his timing.
After scoring goals in his first three games back, Nash has been pointless in the past three, although his line — with center Sergei Fedorov and right winger Nikolai Zherdev — has created plenty of good looks at the net.
"They’re just not going in like they were the first couple of games back," Nash said. "If I wasn’t getting the chances, then I’d be worried.
"I thought it would take me about 10 games to get back to usual. The adrenaline carries you for the first couple of games."
Nash wears a knee brace — he will all season — but said the knee isn’t hampering his play.
"The knee I don’t really think about," Nash said. "That ankle’s still there."
Nash missed the first month of the season because of a high ankle sprain. The six weeks it took to heal the knee gave the ankle time to heal, too, but it’s back to being sore again, he said.
"It’s a bad injury," Nash said. "It feels like it did when I tried to come back in Edmonton (on Nov. 1).
"But it’s something I’ll have to play with."
More injuries
Add defenseman Adam Foote and center Jan Hrdina to the list of injured Blue Jackets.
Foote will miss at least two games — tonight in Chicago and Saturday in Detroit — after suffering a hip injury Wednesday against Anaheim.
He was hit by the Mighty Ducks’ Zenon Konopka at 12:24 of the second period, took exception and ended up fighting Konopka. It was Foote’s first fight since joining the Blue Jackets in the off-season.
Foote barely played after the fight, however, taking only four shifts in the third period, and none in the final 13 minutes. He already has missed eight games because of groin injuries.
Hrdina’s injury (bruised chest) is less serious, and there’s a small chance he could play tonight.
Anaheim’s Joffrey Lupul hammered Hrdina late in the first period. Hrdina played the second but didn’t take a shift in the third.
The Blue Jackets yesterday recalled defenseman Andy Delmore and forward Mark Hartigan from Syracuse.
Two in a row , but . . .
The Blue Jackets haven’t won three straight games since late in the 2003-04 season, and they’ll try again tonight.
The latest win marked only the third time all season they’ve won back-to-back games.
But the players aren’t getting too excited.
At 11-25-1 (23 points), the Jackets are only one point out of 30 th place in the 30-team NHL and seven points behind the Blackhawks for 13 th place in the Western Conference.
"We all know that a two-game winning streak isn’t going to get us where we want to go," goaltender Marc Denis said. "In our history as a franchise, we’ve gotten a little bit too excited about these kinds of streaks.
"If we have a 20-game winning streak, we’ll talk about it. For now, we should be happy with the results, but we’ve got to keep going."
Slap shots
Jody Shelley didn’t fare so well in his fight Wednesday with Anaheim’s Todd Fedoruk, taking a handful of punches to the yapper and skating to the penalty box with a bloody mouth. Shelley also suffered a bruised tailbone when he and Fedoruk toppled to the ice, but Shelley expects to play tonight. . . . The Blue Jackets’ power play was 0 of 10 against the Mighty Ducks, their worst showing of the season. They had five-on-three advantages for 1:16 and 1:22 in the first two periods.
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