Brian Gionta and Nick Holden fit in seamlessly in their Bruins debuts
Gionta and Holden combined for three points in an 8-4 win over the Penguins.
Newcomers week at TD Garden continued Thursday night after Rick Nash and Tommy Wingels made their first home appearance in Black and Gold in a 4-3 OT win over the Carolina Hurricanes Tuesday. All Nash did was to cop No. 1 star of the game with a goal. Wingels grabbed the No. 2 star with a goal and an assist.
Thursday night, the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins came to town and Bruce Cassidy opted to give a nicked-up Matt Grzelcyk the night off and, likewise, for a slumping Danton Heinen, with one point in his last nine games. In their places, defenseman Nick Holden paired with Brandon Carlo, and Brian Gionta on the third line with Wingels and David Backes.
Both made their debuts with equal aplomb in the Bruins’ 8-4 thrashing of the Penguins.
“They’ve fit in seamlessly,” Bruce Cassidy said postgame.
Holden came via the Rangers before the trade deadline for Rob O’Gara and a third-round pick. He played 55 games with three goals and nine assists for 12 points. Thursday, he played 20:25 and notched one assist.
“For my first game, it’s kind of nice to jump in and be involved,” Holden said after. “I don’t know if you see it that often with guys coming in and contributing right away. It’s been a good year here and it shows how deep this team is.”
“He was good,” Cassidy said about his new addition on D. “He made plays. He doesn’t over handle pucks. What I liked about him is, what I was told about him is what he was. He moves the puck in a hurry to a good spot, he gets into his gap, he gets in the way of players without being this ferocious type of player, but he is hard enough that he is not easy to play against and will periodically make some good offense.
“I thought he had a nice first impression, as did Gionta.”
Gionta, fresh off captaining the US Olympic Team in South Korea, signed a free-agent contract for the remainder of this season (about $140,000) to bring his NCAA and NHL career full circle. Twenty years ago this April, the then Boston College freshman appeared in the NCAA championship game against Michigan at TD Garden, a 3-2 OT loss. He would captain the Eagles to redemption in 2001 against North Dakota en route to becoming BC’s all-time goal scorer.
A Devils draftee, Gionta won a Stanley Cup in 2003 before signing a five-year deal with a ‘C’ on his jersey in Montreal. The Rochester, NY, native then spent three years in Buffalo; last season, he appeared in all 82 games and tallied 15 goals and 20 assists for 35 points.
Gionta’s stats read 13:39 ice time with two assists and a plus-1 Thursday night.
“As advertised,” Cassidy said about Gionta, “quick, still got good legs, great in front of the net. He is great at tipping pucks and recovering pucks. I think it’s very important your net front guy can recover pucks, be quick if he’s not screening the goaltender, so he brought that, and he was good at it. Five-on-five, very good as well, very responsible.”
“It’s a great league to be a part of and missed it a lot,” Gionta said about his first NHL game since last April. “You know, I think the transition has been easy with the guys in this room.”
About that amount of time away except for the Olympics, Gionta said: “I’ve been going at it all year. It’s not like I’ve been sitting at home, so I knew coming in that I was going to feel comfortable, but obviously, you want to get that first one out of the way.”
Four newcomers in two games with that first one out of the way – and seamlessly.
