Cam Atkinson scored two goals — giving him five in five periods — to lead the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 7-3 victory on Saturday over the New York Islanders in the regular-season finale for both teams.
Nash opened the scoring in what could be his final game for the Blue Jackets. He has asked for a trade and management has said it will try to deal him this summer. But the fans held up signs of support for him and clearly said thanks to him for his nine years as the face of the team.
"This was pretty special. They stuck with us all year," he said of the fans. "It was a disappointing year for us as a team. And it's not where we want to be right now. But they stuck with us and they were great tonight."
Even before the game started, there was an outpouring of affection from fans pleading with Nash to not leave.
One sign during pregame warmups said, "Oh captain, my captain." Another hand-printed design, referring to general manager Scott Howson, said, "Fire Howson, Keep Nash." A third said, "Pleeeeease don't go, Rick."
Nash will meet this week with Howson. Whether the team's leading career scorer and captain will change his mind or remain on the trading block will certainly be discussed then.
Nash was asked if he thought that this might be his final game in a Blue Jackets sweater.
"It's tough. It's a fun building to play in and I love Columbus," he said. "Next week will be fun hanging out with all the guys and finishing off (the postseason meetings). But it hasn't really crossed my mind too much."
One thing that might lure Nash to remain is how the Blue Jackets played down the finish. Out of the playoffs almost before they began after a 0-7-1 start, they won five of their last six and went 16-14-1 over their last 31. That might also be enough to retain interim coach Todd Richards. He took over a team on Jan. 9 that was 11-25-5 before Scott Arniel was fired; the Blue Jackets went 18-21-2 from then on, despite a franchise record for injuries and games lost.
The last game was a wide-open one in which the Blue Jackets seemed to score on every possible opportunity while goalie Steve Mason, who had 35 saves, kept them ahead by making several big stops against the Islanders.
James Wisniewski and Vinny Prospal each added a goal and two assists and R.J. Umberger and Jack Johnson also scored. Atkinson also had an assist.
"The fans were excited. The players had fun. I might have been the only guy in the building probably who didn't have that much fun," Richards said. "It was just the way the game went. It was a loosey-goosey game, You get that in game 82 and the position that both teams were in. Our goaltender was great. To me, he was the difference in the game."
Nash got the night off to a rip-roaring start. It wasn't known if he would even dress after sustaining a back injury in Thursday night's win in Colorado. But he did more than just dress.
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