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 Yet goaltender Cam Talbot once again made the most of his
fleeting opportunities Sunday night.
The 27-year-old stopped 18 shots for his third win and third shutout
of the season as the Rangers defeated the Hurricanes 1-0 at Madison
Square Garden for their sixth straight victory.
Talbot, who signed a one-year contract extension Friday, has six
shutouts in 27 career starts for the Rangers over the past two
seasons. He hadn't started since Dec. 26 but with the Rangers
playing back-to-back games and in the midst of a stretch of three
games in four nights, coach Alain Vigneault wisely tapped Talbot for
the start.
"It was a lot of fun," said Talbot, who has a .938 career save
percentage in 29 games. "Not a whole lot of work, so it's always a
good thing. The guys played really well in front of me and they
didn't give them a whole lot of quality opportunities, which is
always nice when you haven't played a game in a few weeks."
 We are no different than any team in the NHL," Vigneault said. "You
can't win if you don't get goaltending. (Lundqvist) is playing the
way we know he can. When we use Cam, he's given us some real good
performances."
The Rangers swept the home-and-home series with the Hurricanes,
which included a 3-2 shootout win in Raleigh, N.C., on Saturday.
This recent surge has propelled the Rangers to 17-10-4 and into
third place in the Metropolitan and it's probably not a coincidence
that the team is about as healthy as it's been all season during the
stretch.
"We've had a lot of different lineups with guys coming out early on
and we were just trying to find our way through that," Rangers
defenseman Marc Staal said. "We started getting confidence and
rolling again. We started playing like we're used to."
This was the Hurricanes' third game in four nights and a slow start
proved to be the difference. Defenseman Ryan McDonagh scored his
second goal of the season at 4:10 of the first period and the
Hurricanes barely threatened over the final 55:50 while losing for
the eighth time in nine games.
Hurricanes goaltender Anton Khudobin did everything he could to keep
his team within a goal, including making a remarkable save on center
Derick Brassard with less than seven minutes to play in the third
period.
But the Hurricanes (9-20-4), who have 10 goals in their past nine
games, couldn't find the equalizer.
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"He played real well," Hurricanes center Eric Staal said. "It's been
unfortunate for him. He's played real well the last few times he's
been in there. We have to try to get some offense for him but it
hasn't been happening."
"What can I do right now?" Khudobin said. "If you look at the game,
it looks like I played good and whatever, but you still didn't get
results. There are a lot of things in my head now but there's not
much I can do. Tomorrow is practice. Go work on your things and
focus on the next game."
While the Hurricanes are sinking to the bottom of the standings, the
fast-rising Rangers will concluded their own stretch of three games
in four nights at home against the Washington Capitals on Tuesday
before entering the holiday break.
"We have a good feeling in the room here," Rangers defenseman Dan
Girardi said. "We are not flying too high, but we are feeling good
about our game and how we need to play it."
NOTES: Hurricanes RW Alexander Semin returned to the lineup after
missing six games with a lower-body injury. ... Hurricanes D
John-Michael Liles was back in action after an upper-body injury
sidelined him for three games. Hurricanes D Michal Jordan was
scratched. ... Key players absent for the Hurricanes include C
Jordan Staal (leg), D Andrej Nestrasil (upper body) and LW Jiri
Tlusty (upper body). ... Rangers RW Lee Stempniak remains in
quarantine as the team tests him for mumps. ... Rangers D Dan
Girardi played in his 600th NHL game, all with New York. ... Rangers
D John Moore was a healthy scratch.
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