Out of necessity, the New York Rangers went to their back-up goalie Cam Talbot for Wednesday’s Rivalry Night game against the Boston Bruins.
Henrik Lundqvist, who took a puck to the throat on Saturday, is dealing with a neck injury and is now listed as day-to-day. So the Rangers turned to Talbot, who turned aside 18 of 20 shots faced in a 3-2 victory over the Bruins.
The Rangers are in Nashville to face the Predators on Saturday. According to Andrew Gross of The Record, citing head coach Alain Vigneault, it’s possible Lundqvist does not accompany the team on that trip.
Milan Lucic and Patrice Bergeron scored for Boston, with the goals coming 1:52 apart in the first period. That was it for the Bruins. They couldn’t get another by Talbot, who only faced the 20 shots on goal, even though Boston had 52 shot attempts, according to hockeystats.ca.
Derick Brassard and Derek Stepan scored for New York in the second period, erasing the Bruins’ lead, while Rick Nash recorded his 32nd goal of the season.
“We’re going to need him to continue to step in when he needs to and make his saves...Play the way he did tonight,” said Stepan of Talbot, as per Gross.
The Rangers have now won three in a row, and that has tightened the race for the Metropolitan Division.
The Rangers, New York Islanders and division-leading Pittsburgh Penguins, who defeated Edmonton on Wednesday, are all now separated by just two points.