Cam Talbot has a huge opportunity this month. (Scott Levy, Getty Images)

When Henrik Lundqvist went down with his vascular injury earlier this month, everyone panicked. And I do mean everyone. Even I panicked, and I usually don’t panic (even if I am stubborn as a mule). But Cam Talbot has been serviceable in his time as a starter, posting a 5-1-1 record thus far, making the Rangers 6-1-1 in February.

It’s not like Talbot has been beating bad teams either, he was in net for wins over Boston and the Isles. He played, in my opinion, his best game of the season against Nashville, a 3-2 loss. He hasn’t been stellar, allowing three or more goals five times, but he’s made key saves when he has needed to, and that’s the important takeaway.

But it is worth noting that the 6-1-1 record comes with just three games against playoff bound teams (they went 2-1 in those games). Now the Rangers have a stretch of six games in which only two are against “playoff teams.” I use that term loosely because those two teams are the Canucks (tonight) and Flames (next week), and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Sharks and Kings overtake them both.

Can the Rangers be any more fortunate? Their best player, their franchise player, and probably the most consistently elite goaltender in the world went down with a freak injury that almost caused a stroke, and they play just four playoff teams in that stretch of time?

Starting with tonight’s game against the Canucks, they travel to Buffalo, then home for Columbus, Calgary, and the Coyotes, and then to Philly to finish off the month. That’s a stretch that the Rangers can feasibly go 6-0, although it wouldn’t be fair to expect that kind of run, which would put them at ten wins in a row….again.

It is feasible to expect them to go 4-2 in this run, since Columbus gives the Rangers fits and Philly games are always toss ups. I’d expect Mackenzie Skapski to make his NHL debut against the Sabres tomorrow, on the tail end of the back-to-back as well. But even if he starts, I still expect the win.

It hasn’t been nearly as bad as we initially thought with Hank out, and the next crop of six games should help assuage our concerns a bit more. In the best of scenarios, the Rangers finish their Hank-less stretch at 9-3-1, and have a rested Hank for March and the playoffs. Sounds good to me.

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