When Alain Vigneault smiled at the question he knew was coming, his eyes became slits and his mouth curled at its sides — someone might not even have to go that far to say he looked like a French-Canadian Grinch.
That was Monday night at the Garden, after Vigneault’s 26-year-old first-year goalie Cam Talbot had won his second game in as many nights, and his franchise starter, Henrik Lundqvist, sat and watched as the Rangers carried momentum into the three-day Christmas break without his help.
The press conference was winding down, and the question had to be asked.
“Have you started thinking about your goaltending schedule for the upcoming five-game road trip?” someone asked the Rangers coach.
“You know,” Vigneault said, “my parents are 81 and 79. I haven’t been home for Christmas with my girls [two daughters] for eight years. So I’m looking forward to that. I’ll focus on the 27th when we get there.”
The answer cracked the room up, and as he walked out after wishing everyone Happy Holidays, he looked back over his shoulder. “Good question,” he said with a wave.
Amidst the laughter, the problem of the Rangers’ strange and hectic schedule still remains. After a nine-game road trip to start the season — due to the final stages of the Garden’s $1 billion renovation — the Blueshirts bounced around the country before settling in for a franchise-record nine-game homestand, finishing with Monday night’s 2-1 shootout win over the Maple Leafs.
The season-opening road trip was an unmitigated disaster, with a 3-6 getaway that included some embarrassing blowouts. This homestand wasn’t exactly a thing of beauty, either, with a 3-4-2 record taking the Rangers’ season mark to 18-18-2, straddling that indiscriminate line of .500, the old universal definer of mediocrity.
“We ended on a high note,” said Talbot, who also beat the Wild 4-1 on Sunday night. “Hopefully we can come out of the Christmas break and continue to play the way we were the past two games.”
So there is Vigneault’s problem: In front of Talbot, his team has inexplicably played better. The pride of Alabama-Huntsville now has an 8-2-0 record, a 1.60 goals-against average (good for third in the league), and .938 save percentage. In contrast, Lundqvist is 10-15-2, with a 2.77 goals-against average and a .905 save percentage.
Lundqvist, 31, had played seven straight games since signing his seven-year contract extension worth $59.5 million on Dec. 4, and the only one in which he allowed fewer than three goals was the first one, a 3-1 victory over the inept Sabres on Dec. 5.
It’s more than likely Lundqvist will still get the nod when the upcoming five-game road trip starts on Friday in Washington, a place where The King has reigned over the Capitals. From there, the Rangers visit the Lightning and Panthers in Florida — the latter a 5 p.m. start on New Year’s Eve — before wrapping up with a back-to-back in Pittsburgh and Toronto on Jan. 3 and 4.
It gets stranger still, as 11 of the next 15 games will be at home, including two “road” games in late January at the Devils and Islanders, when the Blueshirts get to sleep in their beds and, more often than not, hear their fans.
By then, the standings will have a bit more definition, and Vigneault will hope he no longer has to kid around about his goaltending.