Rangers Must Embrace Change the Way Panthers, Lightning Did

With the Florida Panthers one win away from hoisting the Stanley Cup, the lesson seems simple for the New York Rangers. Physicality and grit and brute force in the corners and in front of the net is what works in the playoffs, a fact reinforced by the roster construction of the last six – and most likely seven – NHL champions. What the Rangers will require to get past the Panthers – who hammered them out of the postseason this year in the latest such teaching moment, ones that seem to go generally unheeded at Madison Square Garden – and the Tampa Bay Lightnings of the NHL world, is a switch in the mindset of the core players who aren't going anywhere. Accomplishing that varies from team to team, and how and if the Blueshirts get there will be an individual experience – not the following of a set of instructions on How to Win the Stanley Cup.