When Rangers all-world goalie Henrik Lundqvist went down with his neck injury there was alot of panic in Rangerland. The Rangers organization felt confident in putting the Stanley Cup finalist in his hands and with god cause. Last year when the Rangers were struggling, Cameron Talbot played while Lundqvist fine tuned his game once he was called upon. The Rangers have always had faith in their goaltending no matter which one is between the pipes with good reason as the Rangers are in a battle for a shot at the Metro Division title and with Cam as the man, these Rangers are 4-1-1.

The Rangers started off against the Boston Bruins in a battle for the 7th/8th seed  and pulled a regulation win with Talbot stopping 18 of 20 shots. Then onto the NHL's best team the Nashville Predators who beat the Rangers with Cam stopping 20 of 23 shots. As the Rangers felt more comfortable as a team with Talbot in between the pipes, they seemed to open up their game more which lead to more offense for the Blueshirts but also lead to more shots against. In Dallas, the Rangers lost in overtime while Talbot stopped 22 of the 25 shots he faced. The Rangers went to Talbot's home to play Toronto (who traded Cody Franson and Mike Santorelli who was rumored to be a favorite of the Rangers for a deadline trade) and the Rangers won with Talbot looking strongerand stopping 28 of the 31 faced. Onto Colorado with the fathers of many of the players tagging along to Colorado for another win and 26 saves of 29 taken by the Avalanche. Then onto Arizona and his most dominate game in which he even stopped a penalty shot included in his 34 saves of the 35 faced. These Rangers are now 4-1-1 under Cam's goaltending and the Rangers teamwork around him. There is no need to panic and make a trade that will hurt the team overall for a backup goalie that will have to be sent to the minors in another few weeks when The King comes back. MAckenzie Skapskie is getting valuable experience practicing with this Rangers team that is built to make another strong run in this years upcoming playoffs.

It is clear that the Rangers still want to make a trade of two that will solidify the defense and a faceoff guy that I have been begging for all season. Amazing that a team that is so terrible on faceoffs somehow is still one of the better teams in the NHL. Once they get a faceoff player that can win faceoffs regularly and have the Rangers on an offensive mindset and not always looking to recover a lost faceoff, they will be very dangerous. The powerplay will even be better as they will gain between 15-20 seconds in the offensive zone instead of skating back to their zone and retrieving another lost faceoff and starting a powerplay with the retrieved puck behind their net and skating forward. The Rangers are not going to go for a big name and move out of town any key pieces as they are just looking for the faceoff specialist and a 6th defenseman with an expiring contract. Brady Skjei could always be signed at the end of his college season like Chris Kreider was as Gordie Clarke has been quoted on  the Rangers website as saying he is NHL ready.  This summer will have many questions with Martin St. Louis, Mats Zuccarello, Carl Hagelin. How much of a raise does Derek Stepan get? The Defense is set for the next few years. Do the Rangers cash in this summer on Talbot's success and trade him to a team needing a starting goalie that is dirt cheap at $1.45 for next year? All these will be answered in the future, but for now Rangers fans, let's enjoy another solid season of on-ice Rangers performances and see them battle for the division title as they prepare for the playoffs while having their goalie heal from a freak accident.

LET'S GO RANGERS!!!