Justin Holl became the first defenseman in Toronto Maple Leafs history and sixth in NHL history to score a goal in his first two games when they defeated the New York Rangers 4-0 at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.
Holl scored at 8:42 of the first period to give the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead. He scored against the New York Islanders in his NHL debut, a 5-0 win against the New York Islanders on Wednesday.
“It’s definitely surreal. It’s hard to put into words,” said Holl, who was an emergency call-up from Toronto of the American Hockey League hours before the game Wednesday. “It’s a huge honor. … I’m just trying to play as well as I can every night and put the team in the best position to win. … I will just keep playing as long as they tell me to.”
Curtis McElhinney made 25 saves for his second shutout of the season to help Toronto extend its shutout streak to 142:17.
James van Riemsdyk, Patrick Marleau and Zach Hyman scored for the Maple Leafs (30-18-5), who won their fourth straight game and have outscored opponents 9-0 since the All-Star break.
The Rangers (25-21-5), playing their first game since the break, lost for the fourth time in their past five games (1-4-0). It was their first game in a week.
The @MapleLeafs posted shutouts in consecutive days for the fifth time in franchise history. #NHLStats #TORvsNYR pic.twitter.com/6WjIBwIwcC
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) February 2, 2018
A happy dad.
→ https://t.co/aq6WaKvQ86#TMLtalk pic.twitter.com/KMqyxocnwb
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) February 2, 2018
Making his mark. #TMLtalk pic.twitter.com/lcS86jZXL6
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) February 2, 2018