Whether or not they lift the Stanley Cup come June, the New York Rangers have proven themselves to be of championship caliber. The 3OT marathon was amazing enough, but the Rangers never had to claw back in that game — at least not late. And the Rangers’ epic 3OT win was on the road, away from the Garden faithful.

But Game 5? Down 2-1, with the game seemingly over and the Rangers staring at a second straight 3-2 series deficit, THIS happens?

Then, 95 seconds into overtime, on the same four-minute double minor power play, THIS happens?

A championship-worthy win, to say the least. That’s two in three games, and the Rangers can advance to a juiiicy conference finals matchup against the Devils if they beat Washington in Game 6 Wednesday night.

During a meandering phone conversation about New York sports with my Dad last night, an odd thought struck me: In many ways, these Rangers are a mirror image of the Giants’ team that roared through the playoffs and beat the Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI in February.

My Dad scoffed at the notion, but the two squads are more alike than you might think. They each revolve around a superstar athlete who is perhaps the best at his position and is at his best in crunch time. That’d be Eli Manning and Henrik Lundqvist, who happen to play the most important position in their respective sports (quarterback, goalie). They each have a defense designed to break the opponent’s spirit through sheer force of will. The Rangers do it with a relentless stand-your-ground defense (the sports term, which is still useful to say). They feed off the willpower of their quartet of top defensemen: Dan Girardi, Michael Del Zotto, Marc Staal and Ryan McDonagh, who all had at least 44:30 of ice time in the triple OT win in Game 3. The Giants turn defense into offense using a trio of freak-level athletes: Jason Pierre-Paul, Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora. But both squads can only thrive when their defense is firing on all cylinders.

More? Well, both teams are coached by no-nonsense hardliners who are animated and emotional on the sidelines. Both coaches had championship experience going into this season: John Tortorella with the 2004 Tampa Bay Lightning and Tom Coughlin with the 2007 Giants.

Even more? How about the late-blooming breakout star for each team, wide receiver Victor Cruz and forward Chris Kreider. Cruz had a far greater impact on the Giants than Kreider had on the Blueshirts, but both were unknowns at the beginning of the year and ended up making big plays on offense in the postseason.

Obviously the Rangers are far from matching the Giants with a championship. A game from the conference finals, their spot is akin to the Giants’ holding a fourth-quarter lead in the divisional playoff round. But both teams won games they could have — should have — lost. And both proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that they have grit and the will to not go quietly.

During highlights of Game 5 on SportsCenter, ESPN showed footage of a large black man in a Lundqvist jersey leaping around behind the Rangers’ bench in a wild celebration after the game-tying and game-winning goals. You can see him in the video below.

That’s Tuck, celebrating like a maniac 50 feet from the Rangers’ on-ice pileup. Looked like a pretty good partnership to me.