With The King's Return Imminent, Fans Better Make A Lot Of Noise For Talbot Tonight At MSG
The writing is on the wall for Cam Talbot’s amazing run. With Henrik Lundqvist getting his first full practice in today, all expectations are for Hank to reassume his rightful place as the unquestioned go-to goalie for the Blueshirts this weekend. If it ends up being Sunday vs the Caps at the Garden, tonight may very well be the last time Killa Cam touches home ice this season. I’d love to see AV give Lundqvist the Bruins Saturday and let Cam have one more MSG start Sunday, but it makes sense to give the franchise netminder one more day. However it shakes out, there’s no reason for fans to wait – tonight should be a 60-minute standing ovation for what Talbot has done for this team. Losing the King could’ve easily derailed the Rangers. He went 16-4 before bowing out to injury and all of a sudden fans had to temper expectations. All I had hoped for was that Cam kept the team afloat – but instead the 27 year-old with just 28 career NHL starts took them to the top of the league. His 15-3-3 run didn’t start off pretty, but it’s understandable considering the pressure of the situation. Once he settled in though, he’s proven to the entire league that he’s more than capable of being #1. Look no further than his March game log:
Credit goes to teammates too. Jeremy Roenick said it best after a 7-2 Ducks thrashing:
Still, in a month that’s seen the Rangers offense struggle to put up more than 2 a game, Talbot’s turned away a slew of the league’s top teams. In two losses he gave up just one regulation goal each. If it weren’t for his stellar play, goals from depth guys like Fast, Miller, Sheppard & Hunwick wouldn’t have resulted in wins. There’d be more pressure on the top 6 to shake their slumps & cries for Hank to hurry back. But Cam Talbot has kept everything calm, stable & given this group confidence in their ability to beat anyone anywhere under any circumstances. There’s not enough minutes in a game for the home crowd to applaud Cam as much as he deserves, but they better sure as shit try tonight before we all go back to embracing the King as our first true love.
CLICK TO GIVE TALBOT THE STEVEN MCDONALD EXTRA EFFORT AWARD HERE