This is what the Rangers have been preparing for all season long. 

Every comeback victory, all 27 of them in the regular season and the three in the first round against the Penguins, has laid out the mental foundation for them to handle what will be at stake in Game 6 of their second-round Stanley Cup playoff series against the Hurricanes on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. 

Their season is on the line for a fourth time in these playoffs. Each time so far, the Rangers have risen to the challenge and attacked it head on. The competition may be tougher, but this is the same Rangers team that has consistently willed itself into the win column no matter the circumstances. 

The Rangers will not only have to tap into the resiliency that has been their defining trait since October, but they will have to show that they deserve to continue playing into June for the Eastern Conference final. 

“We got to win one game,” Chris Kreider said. “So that’s our focus … win one game, win one shift, win the first period and go from there.” 

To defeat the Hurricanes, the Rangers are going to have to dig deep. Down to the roots of what separates them from every other NHL team, they’ll have to unleash it all at once to pull this off. Relying on goalie Igor Shesterkin’s heroics alone likely won’t cut it. Waiting on a puck bounce to go their way is too risky. Hoping for Carolina to continue its five-game losing streak on the road just won’t do. 

The Rangers will have to take charge of their own destiny and make it happen. To do so, the Blueshirts need their greatest strengths to be just that. 

The power play, which has been both the Rangers’ advantage and demise in this series, can’t let opportunities pass it by. Their physicality will have to break down the Hurricanes’ forecheck. And their top players will have to look like top players. 

The Rangers will need the play-making and dynamic version of Artemi Panarin, whose two assists through five games hasn’t been nearly enough. Kreider will have to be the goal-scoring beast that he was in the regular season, and not succumb to the streaky play that has been attributed to his entire career. Mika Zibanejad must play like the top-tier No. 1 center that he is. 

And Shesterkin will have to play like the Vezina Trophy winner that he almost certainly will be announced as in the coming weeks. 

The opportunity for the Rangers to further establish themselves as legitimate Cup contenders is here, against a team that has been trying to do the same in recent years. The time to prove something to themselves and the rest of the NHL is now. 

“Your backs are against the wall,” head coach Gerard Gallant said Friday. “You go out and play your game. You know if you lose this game there’s no tomorrow. We did that real well the last series, and hopefully we can do it again. I don’t think we change anything strategy-wise. We just go out and play our game and get ready to play. Obviously, there’s a sense of urgency that if you lose this one, you’re done.”