Anything is possible for the New York Rangers now

If there’s anything we’ve learned over the past few weeks it’s that it would be stupid to put a ceiling on what this New York Rangers team can achieve.

It is the day after the night before, a magical night in Raleigh where dreams were achieved and hopes were substantially raised after the Blueshirts reached the Eastern Conference Finals.

Yes, you aren’t dreaming. The Rangers really did go to PNC Arena, a place where the Carolina Hurricanes hadn’t tasted defeat all postseason, and they pulled off arguably one of the best results of any team in the playoffs this year.

They did what they had struggled to do all postseason by starting fast and landing the first blow of the night and, once they did, they put their foot down on the throat of the Canes and refused to take it off until the job was done.

It was a heroic effort from a group of players that are rapidly etching their name into Rangers folklore, and anything really does seem possible now for this team who just don’t know when to quit.

Despite facing elimination five times during this incredible postseason run, the Rangers have lived to fight another day each time, and they now deserve to be considered legit Stanley Cup contenders.

As Game Seven hero Chris Kreider so superbly put it, this team are like a pack of cockroaches – they just don’t go away no matter how much repellent you throw at them.

And that’s why the next chapter should be so exciting for Rangers fans.

While their toughest test now awaits in the juggernaut that is the Tampa Bay Lightning, a team that knows how to get it done in the postseason having won the last two Stanley Cups, the Rangers won’t be fazed.

They know they are going up against greatness, a modern dynasty that has rewritten the blueprint on how to build a consistent championship roster.

This Lightning team is historically good having won 10 straight playoff series, the kind of run that puts them firmly in the upper echelons of all-time great postseason teams with the 1980’s New York Islanders and the legendary Montreal Canadiens teams of the late 1950’s and 70’s.

They also boast the best netminder in the NHL right now in Andrei Vasilevskiy, not to mention a core that is battle-hardened and tested in the postseason, and they proudly bear the scars that prove they know what it takes to survive the gruelling war of attrition that are the Stanley Cup Playoffs and get the job done.

However, the Rangers have relished their roles as underdogs all postseason, out-battling and out-willing a grizzled and vastly experienced Pittsburgh Penguins team in Round One, before doing the same to a Hurricanes team that were the very definition of an absolute wagon.

Head Coach Gerard Gallant has instilled an unbreakable determination in his locker room that laid the foundations for what has transpired this year – a team that fights and grinds their way over the finishing line.

No matter how many times they get knocked down to the canvas, they survive the eight count every time and come right back up, ready to take more punishment, ready to absorb more crushing blows before delivering the knockout punch in one deadly swing.

That steely resilience and that never-say-die attitude saw off a peak-at-his-powers Sidney Crosby, it halted a Canes team that were looking to realize their lofty ambitions, and this mentality that has served the Rangers oh so well all year propelled them to becoming the first team to win in Raleigh this postseason and punch their ticket to the Eastern Conference Finals as a direct result.

So, as elite as the Tampa Bay Lightning are and as much as the Rangers will need to elevate their game once more, they proved with Monday’s Game Seven masterpiece that anything really is possible during these Playoffs.

Including beating the reigning two-time Stanley Cup champions and moving another step closer to winning the franchise its first championship since 1994.

It may be time to start really dreaming and hoping.