Holden on for dear life, an unlikely Game 4 hero
The Rangers’ momentum was long gone. Their dominant performance two days earlier didn’t mean anything anymore.
The first period of Game 4 was scoreless, and Madison Square Garden was quiet and curious, anxiously waiting to see how long the battle with the Senators would remain a stalemate.
No one knew what was coming next. Certainly, no one knew it would come from Nick Holden.
Holden, who had scored just one goal in the previous 21 games, swung control of the game — and potentially the series — to the Rangers after scoring the game’s first goal, putting his team ahead for good in their 4-1 series-tying win over Ottawa on Thursday night.
“When you get that first goal, it helps your team grab a little more momentum and that’s kind of what we did,” Holden said.
The long-struggling Rangers defenseman had been having a brutal first postseason in New York, only creating headlines when he didn’t want them.
When he broke his stick in Game 2 of the firstround series against Montreal, it allowed the Canadiens to score the game-tying goal in the final minute, and eventually win in overtime. In Game 3 against Montreal, Holden was designated a healthy scratch for the first time all season.
Though Holden returned in the next game, and has remained in the lineup ever since, he anonymously skated through most shifts — until turning an innocent-looking possession into a goal.
Picking up the puck at the red line late in the first period, the 29-year-old delivered a pass to Kevin Hayes, then continued skating down the left side and received a pretty pass back from Hayes in front of the net. Holden then made a nifty deke and patiently waited for goalie Craig Anderson to provide an opening, lifting the puck above his right pad to give the Rangers the lead with 5:56 left in the first period.
“I was lucky to pull it back,” Holden said of his move. “Sometimes I try in practice and usually it doesn’t work, but fortunately tonight it did.”
Holden, who had three goals and an assist in seven games with the Avalanche during his only other playoff appearance in 2014, entered Game 4 with a minus-four rating in the playoffs this year, but he posted a plus-one rating Thursday night.
Holden finished second among Rangers defensemen in ice time (19:42), while recording the second-most hits on the team (six), and adding three blocked shots.
“We’re pushing the pace and making sure we’re getting pucks deep, and trying to slow down their top guys,” Holden said. “I think we did a good job of that and sticking to our game from start to finish.”