Bernie Nicholls Adjusts After Move to Rangers

Just because he lives at one, life is not a country club for Bernie Nicholls. It can be a real bore.

Nicholls, who has moved from a Connecticut hotel to a suite at the Westchester Country Club, is close to the New York Rangers’ Rye practice rink, but far away from his wife, Heather, who remains at their home in California.

“After practice I just go home,” he said. “I used to just kind of lay around the hotel.”

Nicholls got out of the hotel and into the club, but he still struggles to occupy his time, even though he has a lot on his mind. And he says that it may have affected his play. He has only two goals in the last 13 games.

“Maybe a new environment is something I’m not used to,” he said. “There’s so much going through my mind. I’m trying to sell my house in L.A., and trying to build one here. So much distracting from the game.”

He also has been troubled by nagging injuries, including sore ribs and a sore elbow, and the death of his mother’s brother two weeks ago.

“I put my mom ahead of everybody. When my mom gets upset, I get upset, too,” he said.

But Nicholls, who set up Troy Mallette for the opening goal in the Rangers’ 5-2 victory over the Canucks Sunday night, seems to be playing better after several lackluster games.

He came to New York touted as a big scorer; he had 70 goals last season for the Los Angeles Kings. In 26 games with the Rangers, he has 10 goals and 19 assists. Paired with Mallette and now Mike Gartner, he has been called on to be more of a playmaker than a scorer.

“As a centerman, you have to play with what players you’re given,” Nicholls said. “If you’re given players who don’t have the talent to score, you’ve got to score goals. If you’ve got goal-scorers, you’ve got to set them up.”

With Gartner, who has six goals in six games with the Rangers, including five on the power play, Nicholls has a scorer. “If I use him properly, with his speed and his talent, he scores 40 goals everywhere he goes,” Nicholls said.