About eight hours before Game 1 of their first-round playoff series Thursday against the Penguins, Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist addressed a media scrum around his locker. He discussed an array of topics, describing his approach and the top-seeded team’s position as the favorite in the series.
The stall to Lundqvist’s right was conspicuously void of anything more than a Rangers hat and a few T-shirts in the upper section. Yet it is occupied by one of the team’s most valuable players.
That locker belongs to the backup goalie Cam Talbot, and if all goes according to plan, he will not see action in the playoffs.