The NY Rangers have put together an impressive streak with back up goalie Cam Talbot filling in for injured starter Henrik Lundqvist. The only issue is Cam Talbot has been very busy during that streak and it is finally starting to come back to bite New York.
Eight games into starting Lundqvist, Talbot has posted an impressive record of 5-1-2, but if you look at his personal statistics you see a completely different story. He has a 3.10 goals against average and save percentage of .894. Talbot isn’t the one to blame, he is facing too much traffic in front and needs help from his team as a whole. One of the Rangers strong suites, defense, hasn’t been where it needs to be recently. Luckily they are clicking on all cylinders in the offensive department to make up for any defensive lapses, but you can’t always rely on offense.
The Rangers need to place a heavier emphasis on defense and they need to protect their goalie. This is first time in his career that Talbot has been a mainstay as a starting goalie in the National Hockey League. The last thing you want is for him to get rattled, because the team doesn’t have too many options after him. It makes you think, will the Rangers consider pulling up a goalie from their minor league system? Talbot has proven he’s capable, but can he handle being the #1 option for this long? It’ll be interesting to see how things play out!
See the video below for highlights of the Rangers most recent game against the Vancouver Canucks:
