It was not all that long ago that Barclay Goodrow, six seasons into his pro and NHL career, was looking like just another NHL fourth-liner while he toiled for a Sharks team that was about to miss the playoffs.

Now, a little over two years later, Goodrow is dispensing advice to and setting an example for the Rangers about what it takes to win the Stanley Cup. That’s what a pair of Stanley Cup runs with Tampa Bay will do for you.

Goodrow has become one of the guys who knocks.

“I don’t know what they’re feeling, but from our standpoint, we’re going to have to play our game. We’re going to have to bring it to another level,” the two-time ring-wearer said in advance of the conference final opener Wednesday night against the Lightning at the Garden. “They’ve been there. They know what it takes. They want to get back to the finals and so do we.

“So we have a lot of hungry guys, a lot of young guys, a lot of veteran guys that want to get there, that have battled tremendously hard so far these playoffs. We’re halfway to getting to what we want to accomplish. It’s another team and it’s gonna be a good challenge.”

Goodrow knows as well as anyone that Tampa Bay is not just another team. He was an integral piece of the 2020 and 2021 championship teams as a third-line staple with Yanni Gourde and Blake Coleman after he (and Coleman) had been acquired by the Lightning at the 2020 deadline.

The Lightning obtained Goodrow and Coleman (from the Devils) to add grit and sandpaper to the group, which in 2019 had suffered a shocking first-round sweep by Columbus following a 128-point season. A pair of Cups later, both left as free agents last summer, Coleman to Calgary. Gourde was selected by Seattle in the expansion draft.

The entire third line is gone, but Tampa Bay is back, aiming for Cup No. 3.

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And so is Goodrow, who signed a six-year deal worth an annual cap hit of $3,641,667 after the Blueshirts obtained his rights from the Lightning in exchange for a seventh-rounder to keep him off the open market, where the price all but certainly would have escalated.

General manager Chris Drury saw the same qualities in Goodrow that Tampa Bay GM Julien BriseBois had seen a couple of years earlier. But in addition, there were the championship bona fides that the forward would bring to a Rangers room that lacked a player who’d won the Cup.

“I don’t know if I saw what was needed but I saw the potential and the trajectory that this team has been on from drafting well, and so many young talented players that I think you see throughout these playoffs are coming into their own,” said the 29-year-old veteran. “I saw that potential. And it seemed like a perfect fit for myself.”

If Goodrow filled in some of the blanks, the Rangers have been filling their comparatively light playoff résumés over the last month, during which the team has escaped elimination five times while winning a pair of Game 7s. It seems like a lot longer ago than four weeks that a lack of playoff experience was a narrative.

“I think the guys who haven’t played in the playoffs before have gotten a taste of it and know what it’s like now. They realize that each round gets harder and harder to play,” No. 21 said. “You learn from your experience. I think we’ve learned a lot from the first two rounds. The young guys have looked great.

“The pressure and the moment aren’t affecting their play, which is a big testament to their maturity and their will to win. We’re a lot more experienced now than we were a month ago. I think we’re gonna use that and bring our game to the next level.”

In pro sports, it is never only about what a player has done, but what that player can still do on the ice, on the field, on the court. Goodrow is getting it done, leading by example, slipping into his blue collar with his return for Game 6 against the Hurricanes after being sidelined the previous 11 contests with the suspected broken foot he sustained in Game 1 of the opening round.

“You can’t say enough about him,” Ryan Strome said. “We could probably sit up here for 10, 15 minutes and go on about what he brings. I think when the crowd cheered for the starting lineup in Game 6 when he started, I think that was pretty cool and it says a lot about what he brings as a person, as a player.

“He’s been there, he’s done it. He knows what it takes. He’s a huge part of our team. It’s tough to imagine our group without him. Like I said we could sit here for 10, 15 minutes and talk about him. He’s a great person and great part of our team. We’re really lucky to have him.”