Kamloops native Riley Nash in action during the Eastern Conference Final against the New York Rangers (Image Credit: NHL.com)

By Chad Klassen

STANLEY CUP FINAL

Kamloops’ Nash playing in his Stanley Cup Final as Lightning try to make history

Jun 15, 2022 | 5:38 PM

KAMLOOPS — At the beginning of the season, Riley Nash had hopes of a Stanley Cup with his newest team, the up-and-coming Winnipeg Jets.

It didn’t work out for either side. The 33-year-old centre was shipped off to Arizona after 15 games before landing in Tampa Bay at the trade deadline.

However, he played mostly with the team’s AHL affiliate in Syracuse until Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final with the Lightning down 2-0 and looking to shake things up.

Four straight wins later and he’s playing in the Stanley Cup Final.

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“It’s kind of funny and very surreal at the same time just how everything worked out this year,” Nash told CFJC Today about being in the Final after a rollercoaster season. “It’s been a challenging year at times with the family moving around so and then me personally moving teams and trying to find my way.”

He has found his way into a fourth-line role on the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning, playing on average six minutes of ice time in the four wins in a row against the Rangers.

The line of Nash, Patrick Maroon and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare got a big goal in Game 4 and hopes to have a similar impact against the Avalanche.

“Trying to create some momentum whenever we’re on the ice. We had one goal in Game 4 that was really big in the first two minutes of the game. That set the pace for that one, so just trying to create momentum whenever possible.”

Earlier in his career, Nash played against the Lightning in back-to-back playoff series, including a sweep of the Presidents’ Trophy winners in 2019, and feels that upset greatly benefitted Tampa Bay in the current run they’re on — 11 straight series wins.

He says his Blue Jackets put their bodies on the line to win that series, and the Lightning since have done the same.

“Whether they get up or down, they stick to the game plan. The coaches do a really good job preparing them, [but] each players is willing to do whatever it takes,” said Nash. “Obviously this time of year, the motivation is there, but even some nights it gets really hard blocking shots, taking a lot of hits — the bumps and bruises add up. You’re hurting. It’s easy to give the 90 per cent and get away with it, but it’s that extra 10 per cent they do that night in and night out gives them every opportunity to win every single game.”

This Lightning group will have the opportunity to become the first team since the 1982 New York Islanders to win three straight Stanley Cups. In their way, the Colorado Avalanche.