Antti Raanta wins goaltending duel for Rangers

CHICAGO-- Antti Raanta made 26 saves, and Nick Holden scored 55 seconds into overtime to give the New York Rangers a 1-0 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Friday.
Raanta got his first shutout of the season one day after defeating the Winnipeg Jets 2-1.
Scott Darling, who replaced Raanta as Chicago's backup goalie in 2014-15, made 36 saves starting his fourth game in a row for Corey Crawford, who is recovering from an appendectomy.

WATCH: All Rangers vs. Blackhawks highlights
"I think everybody knew that it [was] going to be a battle of the goalies who were battling for their job two years ago," Raanta said. "It was a good challenge. When it's 1-0, you know that both guys are happy and doing a great job."
Raanta started each game of the back-to-back for New York (19-9-1) instead of Henrik Lundqvist and made 43 saves on 44 shots. Raanta made nine saves in the first period Friday, 10 in the second and seven in the third.
"To tell you the truth, he played the way we expected him to play," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. "He did what a goaltender is supposed to do, which is give your team a chance to win. He made some timely saves."
Raanta stopped Ryan Hartman from scoring off a turnover 24 seconds into the game and made a sprawling save at 5:10 off a one-timer by Patrick Kane.

Darling's best save of his 12 in the first period came when he stopped a tipped shot by Kevin Hayes with 5:51 left. Darling also made a glove save against J.T. Miller with 1:00 left.
Raanta made a lunging save at 12:03 of the second period to stop a wrist shot by Richard Panik, and Darling did the same at 15:40 to thwart Jesper Fast.
"It kind of builds your intensity," Darling said. "He's making big saves. You don't want to be the guy to let one in, so you just kind of … it's like we're going against each other."
Raanta did allow a goal by Marian Hossa at 6:00 of the third period, but it was overturned by a coach's challenge video review that showed he was offside entering the zone.

Goal of the game

Holden got a pass from Derek Stepan less than a minute into overtime, carried the puck down the slot and shot past Darling into the upper left corner.

Save of the game

Raanta made a save with 7:57 left in the second period to prevent Panik from completing a tic-tac-toe play after passes from Artem Anisimov and Panarin.
"When the puck went to Panarin, I was thinking he was going to shoot it," Raanta said. "So, suddenly he moves it back to the middle, and I was just trying to get something in front of the puck. A little bit old-school. I was lucky enough to get that save."

Unsung performance of the game

After Darling made saves against Dan Girardi and Stepan late in the second period, Girardi got the puck in the high slot. Hossa stepped in front of his wrist shot with 4:39 left and blocked it to end New York's possession.

Highlight of the game

The Rangers nearly scored with 4:20 left in the second period, but Darling sprawled to deny Fast's attempt off a 2-on-1 with a left-pad save.

They said it

"When you play against your former team, you always want to play good and maybe pinch them a little bit, but of course when [I was] thinking about this game, I wasn't thinking that it's going to be 1-0 for us." -- Rangers goalie Antti Raanta
"It was all friendly. Just saying 'Good job' and we're happy for one another." -- Blackhawks goalie Scott Darling on his postgame, on-ice greeting with Rangers goalie Antti Raanta

Need to know

Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews missed his eighth game with what's been reported to be a back injury. He hasn't skated since Sunday. Chicago (17-8-4) is 4-2-2 without him. … Chicago also played without defenseman Brent Seabrook (upper body). … The Rangers got rookie left wing Jimmy Vesey back from an upper-body injury. … Kane left after taking a hit in the second period but returned.

What's next

Rangers: Host the New Jersey Devils on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; MSG, MSG+, NHL.TV)
Blackhawks: Host the Dallas Stars on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; CSN-CH, FS-SW, NHL.TV)