Rick Nash, who missed three games with a groin injury suffered December 6 against the Islanders, will be sidelined again with another groin injury according to the NY Post (https://t.co/k5jQO0Ssod) That injury occurred last night in his overtime shift against the Devils. This groin injury is to the opposite side from the original injury, meaning that Nash now has a balanced set of groin injuries.
Nash hit the ground running in his return from the prior injury, scoring the only even-strength goal against Dallas and only marker against Nashville. He didn't look to be favoring the injury in either contest or last night against New Jersey. But, he somehow tweaked the other side of the groin in the overtime session.
The main concern when Nash first came back is that he would lack the explosiveness in his legs and stride. That didn't look to be the case on the breakaway goal versus the Stars or against Nashville and New Jersey. The other concern was that he would overcompensate for the injury, resulting in a different leg injury. That might not have been the case but it could explain why he was hurt yesterday. If he altered his stride, even slightly, it would throw off his balance and possibly cause the groin strain to the other side of the groin.
Due to the Christmas recess from Dec. 24 through Dec. 26., Nash could only miss two games; tomorrow against Pittsburgh and Friday at home against the Predators. But as this is his second groin injury in two weeks, I would expect him to miss more than a week. Hopefully it's a mild strain and he will be back around New Year's but that remains to be seen.
With Nash, who has scored six goals in his past 11 games and 20 points (13-7) in 30 games, sidelined, it likely means a new lease on life form Brandon Pirri, who was scratched the past two games. The line combinations will once again be in a state of flux with Nash joining Mika Zibanejad and Pavel Buchnevich in the press box. Maybe AV goes: Vesey-Hayes-Miller, Kreider-Stepan-Zucc, Grabner-Lindberg-Fast and Pirri-Hrivik-Puempel. It's also quite possible Nash is placed on injured reserve and either Boo Nieves or Nicklas Jensen is promoted. If that is to happen, it will need to be before the roster freeze kicks in at 11:59pm Monday evening.