Rangers’ attention turns to Game 5 for second shot at knockout punch

So it’ll come down to killer instinct for the Rangers, who will get a second stab at finishing off the Hurricanes in Game 5 of their second-round series Monday night at Madison Square Garden.

Every team has to have that dog-eat-dog mindset to be successful this time of year.

One that’s unwavering and reliable in urgent situations.

It’s an attitude, and a sort of gumption that is required to close out desperate opponents no matter their talent level.

“I think it just comes down to: We believe in ourselves,” Barclay Goodrow said after the Rangers suffered their first loss in a month on Saturday night. “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. I don’t think that affects our game or our confidence level or anything like that. It’s just about regrouping and coming back with a better game on Monday.”

The Blueshirts need to channel what they had the last time they ended the Hurricanes’ season, in Game 7 of their 2022 second-round series.

That series was a pedal-to-the-metal start, in which the Rangers powered to a 4-0 lead by the beginning of the third period.

And both times the Hurricanes scored in the final 20 minutes to try to get something going, the Rangers responded within 55 seconds to hammer the nail in Carolina’s coffin.

They’ll certainly want more than just a few traits of that 1994 Rangers squad, who also went 7-1 to start the postseason before its memorable conference final series against the Devils.

The Rangers, down three games to two, won Game 6 before Stephane Matteau scored the Game 7 double-overtime goal heard round Manhattan to clinch a Stanley Cup Final berth.

“I think you always want to close it out as fast as you can,” said captain Jacob Trouba, who has been on the ice for the last seven straight Canes goals, dating to Game 3. “I think going back home, we’re going to have a pretty rambunctious crowd, but it’s going to be a fun game to play. So attention goes to Game 5.”

There was nothing cutthroat about the Rangers’ game after the second contest of their first-round exit against the Devils last season.

Despite dominating to a 2-0 series lead, Game 3 saw the Rangers score just one goal on the way to an overtime loss before they were trounced in Game 4 and shut out in Games 5 and 7.

The same could be said about the Rangers during their conference final matchup with the Lightning in 2015, when they couldn’t even get on the scoreboard in pivotal Games 5 and 7 after the series stood at 2-2 and 3-3.

But this is the 2024 Rangers we’re talking about.

The same team that scored back-to-back six-on-four power-play goals in the final 4:08 of regulation to force overtime in a high-profile Stadium Series game against the Islanders at MetLife, where Artemi Panarin then won it 10 seconds into the extra period.

It’s the group that didn’t blink when the Bruins knotted a March 21 game at two-all just over three minutes into the third period.

Adam Fox scored 40 seconds later before the Rangers chipped in two empty-netters to stay ahead of the Hurricanes in the Metropolitan Division standings.

The same club that completed a four-game sweep just two weeks ago in Round 1 against the Capitals.

Even the man at the helm of the Rangers, Peter Laviolette, knows anything can happen if that killer instinct doesn’t deliver.

In 2010, Laviolette and the Flyers stormed back from a 3-0 series deficit in the second-round against the Bruins to advance before losing in the Cup final.

“I think going back home, you would’ve loved to have been able to win this game here and move on,” Fox said. “But they’re not going to go down too easy, so regroup, obviously, learn from some of the mistakes and try to get that one on home ice.”