This was the type of play that can stay with a player for a long time and could begin to define his legacy — if he let it.
But it took Rangers defenseman Nick Holden less than a day to get over what transpired at the end of regulation in Game 2 of his team’s first-round playoff series against the Canadiens last Friday in Montreal. That’s when he broke his stick while slashing Tomas Plekanec in front, and then was left defenseless when Plekanec scored the the game-tying goal with 17.3 seconds remaining in regulation, sending to the game to overtime where the Canadiens would win and tie the series at one game apiece.
Asked if he let that stick with him — as well as his overall subpar play in the first two games of this series — and Holden was at least honest.
“At first, it did a little bit, right after the game,” Holden told The Post on Saturday morning. “Next day, you’re thinking, ‘What should I have done different?’ Obviously, in hindsight, wouldn’t have slashed his stick, I would’ve maybe just gone under his stick or pushed him or whatever. In the moment there, I was trying to be desperate. I don’t want him standing in front of the net, make him take [some abuse] a little bit.
“So you kind of think of the plays, but you have to move on quickly and have a short memory. That’s kind of how I’ve been approaching things.”
It wasn’t that easy, as coach Alain Vigneault made Holden a healthy scratch for Game 3, which the Rangers lost in disappointing fashion at the Garden. But he was reinserted in the lineup in Game 4, which was the Blueshirts’ best performance of the lot, the first of two straight wins that have them up in the best-of-seven contest, 3-2, on the verge of clinching a berth into the second round with a victory in Saturday night’s Game 6 during primetime at the Garden.
“He’s been good the last couple games,” Vigneault said. “Like I’ve mentioned many times this year, when he’s on top of his game, he’s very dependable, makes the right reads when he doesn’t have the puck, and with the puck. He can make some good plays, jump up in the attack when the opportunity is there. He’s been a real effective defenseman for us, for the most part, this year.”
When he was benched, Holden was replaced by Kevin Klein. It was the first time Holden had been a healthy scratch all year, his first season on Broadway after coming over in an offseason trade with the Avalanche in exchange for a fourth-round pick.
“I think by that time I’d already forgotten about it and ready to move on,” Holden said. “We wanted to get Kleiner in, and coach did that.”
Just about every time Vigneault had been asked about Holden earlier in the year, he mentioned the conversation he had with former Avalanche coach Patrick Roy, who told Vigneault he was receiving a terrific defenseman. He immediately was a mainstay in the lineup and hit a peak of performance mid-season, when he showed his versatility, a lefty playing on the right side with alternate captain Marc Staal.
But there were certain dips in his game down the stretch, and it carried right over into the first two games of the playoffs, which the Rangers split up at the Bell Centre. If he had made a better play at the end of regulation, it might have been a sweep — but if he thought too much about it, he wouldn’t have been able to bounce back.
“I think we were still doing good things, but there were just a few plays you’d like to make,” Holden said. “In the playoffs, if you make the wrong read or play and it ends up in the back of your net, everything gets blown up a little bit more than it would any other time of the year. It’s just having a short memory.
“I’ve played in some situations where you have to forget plays that you’ve made and things that have happened. Could hold you back if you don’t.”