It was very casually the way Henrik Lundqvist walked passed the assembled media on the sidelines of Rangers practice at the MSG Training Facility on Wednesday, in gym clothes and sweating. And it was very casually the way his coach, Alain Vigneault, later volunteered the fact the injured goaltender and franchise cornerstone has spent some time on the ice recently, staying in shape by mixing “off-ice and on-ice” workouts, all part of the “same protocol.”

And it all came out so easily because, even while Lundqvist recovers from his vascular injury that will keep him out until mid-March, the Blueshirts do not seem lost. Instead, with a seemingly unflinching agreement to let understudy Cam Talbot take sole possession of the netminding duties for as long as need be, the Rangers have only gained ground in the race for playoff seeding.

They will enter Thursday’s Garden match against the Canucks as winners of four in a row, 5-1-1 in the seven games since Lundqvist went down. Their record is now 34-16-5, four points behind the first-place Islanders while holding three games in hand. They’ve scored 22 goals in this four-game winning streak, and every time Lundqvist comes around, he has nothing but words of encouragement for Talbot.

“He’s been around a little bit,” said Talbot, who will make his eighth consecutive start Thursday. “[Lundqvist] comes up, taps my pads, says, ‘Good game, keep going.’ He’s just happy that we’re not really falling apart or losing too much.

“There isn’t a lot of space in the standings. So I think Hanky is just happy about that. It takes a little stress off him, which is nice for him right now.”

It’s also nice for Vigneault, who hasn’t be forced to ask himself the question whether 20-year-old backup Mackenzie Skapski is ready to make his NHL debut. Even though Thursday is the first leg of a back-to-back, and the first of three games in four nights, it sure seems like without any mitigating circumstances, it will be All Cam, All The Time.

“He’s going to play [Thursday],” is all Vigneault would offer, before adding, “For him, this is what he has wanted for a long time — an opportunity to play.”

It’s true, even when Talbot signed his one-year, $1.45 million extension this season. This is his audition for the rest of the league, and he’s hoping it’s an indication he can carry the load when called upon.

“I feel really good now, actually,” the 27-year-old Talbot said. “I took maybe a couple games to get that back, since I haven’t played this many games in a row in a couple years, since [AHL] Hartford. Now I feel great.”

The most likely time for Talbot to sit would be Friday night in Buffalo, when the Rangers make up their snowed-out game from Nov. 21 against the league-worst Sabres. But from there, questions might arise — such as, if Skapski plays well, does he get another start? Or, the far more likely scenario, Skapski is utterly overwhelmed, and needs to be pulled — then what kind of rest was that for Talbot? And why throw away two precious points against a Buffalo team that could hardly compete in a beer league.

So rather than deal with all that, it seems the plan is to just run Talbot out there every game and hope he keeps giving them a chance to win.

“It’s fun for me to be able to get some games in a row here and start to get in a groove in a little bit,” Talbot said. “The biggest adjustment for me is just staying focused, keeping in shape and just get my game legs under me.”

Though Talbot is holding down the fort, it’s still clear the lofty postseason aspirations of the defending Eastern Conference champions still lie with Lundqvist.

“Hopefully he’s recovering nice,” Talbot said, “and he’ll be back soon.”