Kamloops native Riley Nash of the Columbus Blue Jackets will try to help his team advance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs starting Aug. 2 in Toronto (Image Credit: NHL.com)

By Chad Klassen

RILEY NASH

Kamloops’ Nash says NHL teams who shift into playoff gear quickly will succeed

Jul 14, 2020 | 1:43 PM

KAMLOOPS — From his bubble in Columbus, Riley Nash feels healthy and ready to get back to hockey.

However, training camp has been an adjustment for players who have been off for four months.

“How was it? Your legs burning a bit?” CFJC Today asked via Zoom.

“Oh yeah. Training camp here [with John Tortorella] are usually really tough, so I think he’s kind of pulled that back a little. He doesn’t want to grind us into the ground,” said Nash.

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Ninth-seeded Columbus faces Toronto in the qualifying round beginning Aug. 2. The Blue Jackets and Leafs split the season series with one win each. But the teams haven’t met since October.

“It’ll be fun. There will be no shortage of media coverage on that series,” noted Nash. “I know a lot of people back West that if we were playing another team we might not get a lot of exposure to the series, so this will be a fun way for them to be able to watch that.”

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Toronto is at home — the hub city for the Eastern Conference — but with no fans in the building, there really is no home-ice advantage. Nash, who played his minor hockey in Kamloops, says it’ll be strange playing without a crowd.

“I think it’s going to bring a lot of us back to our minor hockey days. I think the last time I played without fans, or not a whole lot of fans, was probably Major Midget back when we were playing in the Blazers arena and we’d maybe get 200 people.”

He says the fans can make a huge impact on the outcome of playoff games. Players will have to adjust their mindsets, Nash said.

“In the playoffs, it’s big. You feed off that energy. I know for us last year when we were playing Tampa, we fed off that big time, especially coming home up 2-0,” referring to the 2019 Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series Columbus won 4-0 over the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Lightning.

“Games 3 and 4, those are big-time games. The crowd was into it right from the drop of the puck. So now it’s got to be all internal. Just accountability, player to player. It’ll be interesting to see who can get up for those games and who relies on the fans more.”

But Nash says when it comes to playing for a Stanley Cup, all of that won’t matter.

“We’re playing for the Stanley Cup. This isn’t like we’re playing the first 10-15 games of the year. This right at it. You’ve got to get into that mentality as fast as possible. I think the teams that can get into that mode and lock in as quick as possible I think are going to have a huge advantage.”