Nash won’t travel with Rangers to Ottawa

New York Rangers forward Rick Nash is primed to miss his second straight contest with an undisclosed injury, as he won’t travel to Ottawa for Thursday’s game against the Senators, ESPN’s Katie Strang reports.

Strang does note, however, that Nash could still re-join the team in Montreal (the Rangers play the Habs on Saturday at the Bell Centre.)

The big winger missed Tuesday night’s contest against the Canadiens — a 3-1 Rangers loss — the first time he’s been held out of a game since joining the Rangers via trade last summer.

Playing coy with Nash’s health has been a theme over the last few days. On the weekend, he missed a Saturday practice, something that Tortorella chalked up to a “body maintenance day.”

Nash was then listed as questionable for Sunday’s 2-1 win over Washington, but participated in the warmup and proceeded to play a whopping 22:33, recording one assist and a game-high eight shots on goal.

Prior to the Caps game, Rangers head coach John Tortorella was pressed on exactly what Nash’s injury was.

“None of your business,” he told Strang.

On Wednesday, Larry Brooks of the New York Post penned a piece suggesting Nash had suffered some type of head injury last week in a game where he took a big hit from Boston forward Milan Lucic.

More, from Brooks:

The Rangers aren’t saying anything about the condition of Nash, who played two days after taking the unpenalized hit and then again three days after that despite a couple of days that we know of, when he wasn’t feeling well.

No one is saying whether No. 61 is suffering post-concussion symptoms. Perhaps more to the point, no one is saying he isn’t.

In 14 games this year Nash has 3G-9A-12PTS while averaging 21:24 of ice time.