Big skates to fill for backup Pavelec

The Rangers have had nothing but success at the backup goalie position since Cam Talbot took that role early in the 2013-14 season.

Both Talbot and his successor, Antti Raanta, have moved on to starting roles in Edmonton and Arizona, respectively, and now the hope is that the newest player to step into that position, Ondrej Pavelec, can pick up where they left off.

“Every player who is playing, every goalie, all the coaches, they want to be in the game, they want to be involved in the game,” Pavelec told The Post before he was hardly tested in his preseason debut, stopping all 10 shots he saw through the first two periods before being replaced by Brandon Halverson in the Rangers’ 1-0 overtime win against the Islanders on Monday night at the Garden.

“But in the same time, you have to understand your role,” Pavelec said. “You have to understand your job, and respect it.

That means being the understudy to Henrik Lundqvist, who has scaled back his game load in recent years but who was not being prescribed a certain numbers of games before this season. Instead, coach Alain Vigneault said they were going to play it by ear, and they hope Pavelec can be a suitable fill-in now matter how often he’s needed.

“In certain players’ careers, you catch them at the right time. I think our team, our organization, has him at the right time,” Vigneault said about the 30year-old Pavelec. “He’s had a couple off years, and you only get so many kicks at the can in this league. Got to have a highly motivated guy that wants to listen to the goalie coach, wants to help his team win to prove he can be in the NHL.”

Vigneault was unsure exactly of his lineup for his team’s next game, on Wednesday night at the Garden against the Devils. But he did say some players would play in both of the opening two games.