Raanta, Rangers beat Blackhawks 1-0 in overtime

CHICAGO -- New York Rangers coach Alain Vigneault felt so good about Antti Raanta's return to Chicago that he kept Henrik Lundqvist on the bench for the second straight night.

Turned out quite well for Vigneault and company.

Raanta made 26 saves against his former team, Nick Holden scored 55 seconds into overtime and the Rangers blanked the Blackhawks 1-0 on Friday.

"It was great to come here and play," Raanta said. "A little nervous, but it was a good thing it ended like this."

Derek Stepan passed from the boards to a streaking Holden in the middle of the ice, and he beat Scott Darling on the stick side for his fourth goal of the season. Darling was going for his second straight shutout while subbing for injured starter Corey Crawford, but he had to settle for a season-high 36 stops in another solid performance.

"Raanta's played great, made some big saves," Darling said. "I wish I could redo that one in overtime."

Raanta made his NHL debut with Chicago in 2013 and was teammates with Darling for one season before he was traded to New York. He improved to 15-0-3 in 20 career appearances at the United Center.

The 27-year-old Raanta had 17 saves in Thursday's 2-1 victory at Winnipeg, and Vigneault opted to give him a second straight start because of his recent play and his success in Chicago.

"Any team in this league, the way it is now, needs two goaltenders to be able to have success," Vigneault said, "and we're very fortunate that we have two goaltenders that can do a good job for us.

"Antti came up real big back to back and it's good for our team and very good for him also."

Marian Hossa appeared to have the go-ahead goal for the Blackhawks when he shot it between the legs of Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh and Raanta 6 minutes into the third. But Vigneault challenged the play and it was waived off when a replay review showed Hossa was offside.

"That's a tough one. I wasn't even noticing it was close to offside, but with today's technology and this new rule, it's a game of inches," Hossa said. "They created this new rule and we have to deal with it, but it's frustrating, because the league wants to increase scoring and now I think more goals are disallowed because of this one."

The Blackhawks played without defenseman Brent Seabrook, who was sidelined by an upper-body injury. Captain Jonathan Toews missed his eighth straight game with an upper-body injury, and Crawford missed his fourth in a row after he had an emergency appendectomy last weekend.

New York forward Rick Nash was sidelined for the second straight game by an upper-body injury. Nash is tied for second on the Rangers with 11 goals.

While each team was missing some star power due to injuries, Raanta and Darling put on quite a show.

Raanta made a great glove save on Patrick Kane's one-timer early in the first and had a dazzling stop on Richard Panik's wide-open look in the middle in the second. The 6-foot-6 Darling made a couple terrific saves in rapid succession in the second, denying Stepan on the doorstep before getting over to knock away Jesper Fast's prime opportunity on a 2-on-1.

Raanta got some help in the third when Mats Zuccarello swept a loose puck away from the goal line with 2:20 left.

Game notes

It was Raanta's first shutout of the season and No. 5 for his career. ... New York became the first NHL team with 100 goals this season. ... Rangers F Jimmy Vesey returned to the lineup after missing a game with an upper-body injury. Nash, D Adam Clendening and RW Josh Jooris were scratched. ... The Blackhawks are 6-2-2 against the Eastern Conference this season. ... The Rangers and Blackhawks play again on Tuesday night in New York.

UP NEXT

Rangers: Hosts the New Jersey Devils on Sunday night.

Blackhawks: Hosts the Dallas Stars on Sunday night.

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Jay Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jcohenap