Backup Goaltender Is at Forefront Again Frank Franklin Ii/Associated Press Toronto goalie Jonathan Bernier stopping a shot by the Rangers" Rick Nash for one of his 42 saves. Cam Talbot, the preternaturally calm first-year goalie, saved the Rangers again Monday night. He stopped 25 shots, shook off a controversial late goal and won his first N.H.L. shootout, leading the Rangers to a 2-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs at Madison Square Garden. It was Talbot's second straight start in place of the struggling Henrik Lundqvist, and the Rangers" second straight victory. It enabled them to finish a nightmarish nine-game homestand with a 3-4-2 mark. "It ends on a high note for us," Talbot said. We really needed those 2 points, and we needed the 2 points last night. The Rangers seemed headed to a victory in regulation on J. T. Miller's third-period goal off a clever feed from Chris Kreider. Clinging to a 1-0 lead, they survived a late Toronto power play after Kreider took a delay-of-game penalty with 3 minutes 34 seconds left. But with 1:24 left, the Leafs finally scored when Nazem Kadri whacked repeatedly at a puck and knocked it in the net, though Talbot seemed to have smothered it in the crease before it crossed the goal line. Talbot and the Rangers complained of a slow whistle, but a review confirmed the call. "I didn't hear a whistle, no, but I was expecting one because I thought I had it covered," Talbot said. I mean, how many times are you going to let him whack at it? But that's just my opinion; I'm obviously biased. Talbot said he would have felt devastated if the Rangers had lost. "We deserved to win the game, and to get a goal like that against us could have really hurt us," he said. But we kind of let it go. Talbot, who is 8-2 in 10 starts, has allowed two or fewer goals in nine of them. In the shootout, Mats Zuccarello and Derek Stepan beat Toronto goalie Jonathan Bernier, who was brilliant with 42 saves. Talbot was beaten by Joffrey Lupul. The Rangers are 18-18-2 going into the holiday break; the Leafs are 18-17-4. The spotlight may have been on Talbot, but Bernier stole the show through the first 40 minutes, particularly during a second period in which the Rangers outshot the Leafs, 22-5. From 1:54 of the second period until the 17:30 mark, the Rangers fired 16 straight shots on Bernier. During the period, the Rangers had four power plays, but 13 Rangers failed to beat Bernier. He stopped Rick Nash five times during the period. This is certainly shaping up as the year of the backup goaltender, with Josh Harding (Minnesota), Ben Scrivens (Los Angeles), Martin Jones (also Los Angeles), Ben Bishop (Tampa Bay), Justin Peters (Carolina) and Robin Lehner (Ottawa) vastly outplaying the incumbents on their teams. Talbot belongs in that group too, another obscure backup outperforming the far-more-famous regular. Talbot has a .938 save percentage, the third best mark in the N.H.L. among regular goalies; Lundqvist (.905) ranks 36th. With such a wide discrepancy between the two, the real surprise was that Talbot has just 10 starts this season. Coach Alain Vigneault faced withering criticism the last time he started Talbot in back-to-back games, Nov. 30 and Dec. 2. Lundqvist was struggling back then, too, supposedly distracted by not having signed a contract extension. It was a logical call to put Talbot in net for a second straight game, but it was also the first time since February 2011 that a healthy Lundqvist had sat twice in a row. Now Vigneault faces a hard choice: Should he return to Lundqvist, or stay with Talbot, the hot goalie, when the Rangers resume play at Washington on Friday? At least this time, if he picks Talbot, Vigneault is not likely to face much criticism.