Rangers win thrilling goaltending duel with overtime goal

For about nine minutes in the second period Friday night, the Blackhawks didn’t have a core so much as a chewed-up remnant of one. Jonathan Toews was out. Brent Seabrook was out. Corey Crawford was out. And now Patrick Kane suddenly was out after his head bounced off the glass following a combination hit from Marc Staal and Nick Holden.

All this against the Eastern Conference powerhouse New York Rangers, no less.

“I think every team deals with these type of things throughout the course of the year,” Duncan Keith said of the rash of key injuries before the game. “It’s just part of hockey, and part of what good teams are able to do is overcome the adversity.”

Great goaltending sure helps. Scott Darling and Antti Raanta put on a show in a brilliant goalie duel, with the Rangers winning 1-0 on an overtime goal by Nick Holden. Oddly enough, it was the third 1-0 game between the two high-octane teams in their last five meetings.

A week ago, this figured to be a showdown of two of the league’s top goaltenders in Crawford and Henrik Lundqvist. But Crawford’s appendectomy and Lundqvist’s recent mediocre play turned it into a showdown of two guys that battled to be the Hawks backup two years ago. Darling and Raanta were spectacular, each making several remarkable saves.

Darling won the job during the Hawks’ 2014-15 Stanley Cup season, but Raanta won this battle, stopping all 26 shots he faced. Darling made 36 saves.

Raanta is now a staggering 15-0-3 with a .944 save percentage at the United Center, but this was his first time in another uniform.

“First time here in this building, you know how loud the fans can be and the national anthem when it’s starting,” Raanta said. “But when you get that first save, you pretty much don’t think about those anymore. You focus on the next shot. So, it was great to come here and play. Little nervous, but it was a good it ended like this. … Always, when you play against your former team, you always want to play good and maybe pinch them a little bit.”

After the game, the two amiable backups embraced and briefly chatted.

“I’m happy for him,” Darling said. “We had no bad blood in that situation we were in. We remained friends. He’s having a great season, I’m happy for him.”

The smaller Raanta used his athleticism to make huge stops on a Kane one-timer in the first period, an Artem Anisimov wraparound in the second, and a Richard Panik blast in the slot a moment later. The 6-foot-6 Darling stretched himself to the limit to make terrific stops on a Holden redirect in the first, a Derek Stepan shot on the doorstep late in the second, and a sprawling stop on Jesper Fast on a 2-on-1 less than a minute later.

The second period was a dizzying back-and-forth battle, with both goalies on top of their games.

“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. It’s like we’re going against each other.”

Marian Hossa appeared to finally break through — threading a shot between both Ryan McDonagh’s legs and Raanta’s legs — at 6:00 of the third period. But the Rangers challenged the goal, and Hossa was indeed offside, just barely, as he pulled his back skate off the blue line before Ryan Hartman fully carried the puck over the line.

“You get your excitement up a little bit and try not to get too ahead of yourself when you know they are reviewing it,” Hartman said. “Obviously, it was the right call. It was just a tough one.”

Kane returned to the game after being checked out late in the second and appeared fine. But still, without so many big names, getting a point against the Metropolitan Division-leading Rangers isn’t so bad.

“Both [goalies] were great,” Joel Quenneville said. “Both guys got their teams to overtime, got a point. It’s a good point if you want to look at it like that.”

Email: mlazerus@suntimes.com

Twitter: @marklazerus