The fact is nothing too egregious was happening on the back end that would have forced Rangers coach Alain Vigneault to make a change in his lineup.
So instead it’s with an injury to John Moore that Vigneault got his chance to insert Raphael Diaz into the lineup for Saturday’s 2-0 win over the Devils at the Prudential Center, the first time the 28-year-old defenseman played since he was acquired in a trade with the Canucks on March 5.
Moore was suffering from concussion symptoms after being hit hard into the boards by the Blue Jackets’ Blake Comeau in Friday’s 3-1 Rangers win in Columbus.
“He’ll be evaluated on a daily basis,” Vigneault said.
Diaz played the right side on the third pair with Kevin Klein, getting a total of 16:20 ice time that included 4:06 on the power play. Although originally slated by Vigneault to play in Moore’s spot on the left, the right-handed Diaz said fellow right-hander Klein asked him before the game where he was more comfortable, and then allowed him to play there.
“It was really nice of him,” Diaz said.
Although Moore’s status going forward is unknown — and the other defenseman on the roster being Justin Falk, who has declined to go to AHL Hartford and thus hasn’t played in a game since Dec. 29 — the opportunity for Diaz to stay in the lineup is something not lost on him.
“As a player, you want to play,” Diaz told The Post after the morning skate, having started this season playing for the Canadiens, then getting traded to the Canucks in early February, along with the travails of going to Sochi, Russia, and playing for the Swiss Olympic team for two weeks.
“You want to play games and you want to help the team win games,” he said. “Step by step. [Saturday] is my first game. I’ve never played for this team, I’ve never played for the Rangers, so it’s special.”
After getting back in the lineup for Friday’s win, rugged forward Derek Dorsett was a late scratch Saturday, coming down with what Vigneault called a “stomach flu.” He was replaced by Dan Carcillo, who got 9:21 of ice time.
Vigneault said two nameless players were dealing with small injuries — what he said were referred to as “bobos” in French — and he was going to make a last-minute lineup decision based on warm-ups. That meant rookie forward Ryan Haggerty took warmups, as did Falk, and neither played, as the “bobos” apparently weren’t too severe.
With the Coyotes coming to the Garden on Monday night constituting the Rangers third game in four nights, Vigneault was asked about possibly resting Henrik Lundqvist in favor of backup Cam Talbot.
He gave a rather a candid answer.
“I think right now it’s safe to say it’s on a game-to-game basis,” said Vigneault, whose team doesn’t have another back-to-back in the final 11 games. “Hank’s the guy and points are hard to come by. Yes, Cam has played real well for us, but Hank’s our guy and if we’re going to get in — everybody is winning right now — if we’re going to get in, it’s because Hank plays like Hank.”