Challenge win saves Rangers

CHICAGO — Alain Vigneault is good at trusting his eyes.

The Rangers coach continued his successful run of coach’s challenges when he questioned Marian Hossa’s goal 6:00 into the third period because of offsides and the officials overturned it, keeping the game scoreless.

The Rangers won 1-0 on a Nick Holden goal in overtime, and they can look back at the challenge as saving their hide. Since the challenge was instituted last season, Vigneault is 5for-11 on calls relating to goals, and 1-for-1 this year.

“Initially, I thought it looked really offside,” Vigneault said. “Then when I saw the replay it was a lot closer than I thought. Jerry [Dineen], our video guy, had a real good look, he thought it was offsides, so we use the challenge and fortunately for us, we won that challenge.” Rookie forward Jimmy Vesey returned to the lineup after a one-game absence because of an upper-body injury. Vesey had been hobbled at some point during the Rangers’ 4-2 loss to the Islanders in Brooklyn on Tuesday, calling the injury “a weird thing.” He added it wasn’t from the slash he took early in the second period.

“It was unrelated,” Vesey said Friday morning after skating with the Rangers’ extras, “but I was kind of laboring at some points in that game.”

The only description of the injury the Harvard man gave was that it was “kind of a minor upper-body thing. But I’m feeling a lot better now.”

Vigneault did limit Vesey’s exposure, playing him on the fourth line with Brandon Pirri and Nicklas Jensen.

Winger J.T. Miller took a hard stick to the face from Pat

rick Kane midway through the second period, and went to the locker room, presumably following league-mandated concussion protocol. He returned soon thereafter, and hardly wanted to answer any questions about it after the game.

“I’m fine,” Miller said quickly. “I’m fine.”