Regeln » Not exactly the recipe to hang with the Penguins

PITTSBURGH, Pa. Julian Edelman Youth Jersey . - Dont worry, Kris Letang insists. The heat is coming. Sure, the Pittsburgh Penguins defenceman admits the New York Rangers dont invite quite the same animosity inside his teams locker room as the Philadelphia Flyers. The Rangers ended any shot of that tantalizing matchup when they beat the Flyers in seven games to set up a showdown with Pittsburgh in the Eastern Conference semifinals starting Friday. That doesnt mean Letang expects the next two weeks to be devoid of drama. Far from it. "Im pretty sure the intensity will get really high at one point when we start," Letang said. "The emotion is always going to be part of the game and were going to have to control it the best we can." Its an internal battle the Penguins won during a taut first-round series against Columbus. Expected to send the inexperienced Blue Jackets home without much effort, Pittsburgh needed six trying games to advance. The way the Penguins figure it, thats a good thing. Forced to respond to adversity, they played what coach Dan Bylsma called their best 120 minutes this season to avoid the upset. "We keep coming and we keep coming, playing forward and playing in the offensive zone and grinding teams down with that play with that speed and quickness," Bylsma said. "Games 5 and 6 were our best at playing that way." The Penguins will need to do it four more times if they want to advance to the Eastern Conference finals for the second straight year. They split their four regular-season meetings with New York, all of them coming before the Olympic break. The Rangers hardly look like the team that was still struggling to find an identity when they last faced Pittsburgh in early February. Pittsburgh is no longer the patched-together unit that cruised to the Metropolitan Division title despite having stars Letang, Evgeni Malkin, Paul Martin and James Neal miss large chunks of the season due to injury. The Penguins are healthy. New York is hot. Five things to look for heading into Game 1. SLUMPING STARS: Pittsburgh captain and likely NHL MVP Sidney Crosby hasnt scored a goal in his past 10 playoff games. New York forward Rick Nash has just one in 19 post-season contests wearing a Rangers sweater. Whichever streak ends first could swing the balance of the series. Crosby had six assists against the Blue Jackets, including one to Malkin in the first period of Game 6 in Columbus that gave the Penguins a 2-0 lead. Crosby knows he needs to take more chances. So does Nash, who can live with the drought as long as the Rangers keep it going. "Thats all that matters," Nash said. "Im going to try to keep getting my game going." LUNDQVIST VS. FLEURY: New Yorks Henrik Lundqvist and Pittsburghs Marc-Andre Fleury are the two winningest goaltenders in the regular season over the past five years, combining for 334 victories. Yet Lundqvist has yet to lift the Rangers past the conference finals while Fleury has struggled in the playoffs since helping the Penguins win the Stanley Cup in 2009. Both had their wayward moments in the first round. Both responded with brilliant play. Whoever gets hot — and stays hot — will give his team the upper hand. POWERLESS POWER PLAY: The Rangers went just 3 for 29 on the power play against Philadelphia, ending the series by failing to score 21 straight times with the man advantage. Not exactly the recipe to hang with the Penguins, who had the NHLs best power play during the regular season and was a solid 4 for 15 against the Blue Jackets while adding a pair of short-handed goals in the process. GENOS BACK: Like Crosby, Malkin was in the midst of a lengthy goal drought before coming up with his second career playoff hat trick in the clincher against the Blue Jackets. The rust that came with missing the final three weeks of the regular season appeared to vanish as he lit up Columbus goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky in Game 6. Playing alongside Crosby at times to try to shake loose the cobwebs, Malkin got hot. Expect to see the two MVPs on the ice frequently against New York. NEW YORK MINUTE: Game 1 marks the middle of a busy stretch in which the Rangers will play five times in seven days. Thats fine by them considering it beats the alternative of watching from home. "Now were in the middle of it and were in the battle," New York forward Brad Richards said. "This is when it gets real fun." ___ AP Sports Writer Ira Podell in New York contributed to this report. Sony Michel Youth Jersey . No surprise there. Kershaw, who also earned the title after throwing his first career no-hitter in June, had a 1. Steve Grogan Jersey . - Connor McDavid scored twice and added two assists as the Erie Otters beat the Sarnia Sting 7-3 on Saturday night in Ontario Hockey League action. https://www.patriotssportsgoods.com/Womens-John-Hannah-Inverted-Jersey/ . -- Quarterback Josh Johnson has returned to the San Francisco 49ers and his former college coach, Jim Harbaugh.BARCELONA, Spain -- Sevilla beat Granada 4-0 on Sunday to keep the pressure on Athletic Bilbao in their fight for Spains last Champions League berth. Celta Vigo outclassed Almeria with a 4-2 away win as forward Manuel "Nolito" Agudo netted a double, and Paulao scored one goal and set up another, but both for the wrong team, as bottom-side Real Betis slumped to a demoralizing 3-1 defeat at Rayo Vallecano. Granadas defeat at Sevilla was eerily similar to Betis debacle, with its players scoring an own goal and gifting another goal to Kevin Gameiro. Diego Mainz redirected Gameiros pass inside his own post in the 14th, and Gameiro tapped in his 14th league goals this season in the 51st, saving Tiago Delfim from being credited with another own goal after he had pushed the ball toward his empty net. Stephane Mbia and Victor Machin added goals for Sevilla in the 58th and 68th. Sevilla plays Valencia on Thursday in the semifinals of the Europa League. This win provisionally closed the gap with fourth-place Bilbao to three points before the Basques visits Barcelona later. Almerias Rodrigo Rios hit the post in the 10th, but Celta dominated the rest of the game through forwards Nolito, Rafina and Fabian Orellana. Rafina set up the opener when his deflected shot fell to Nolito to score in the 19th. Rios levelled in the 40th, only for Nolito to find Charles to cap a buildup started by Orellana in the 52nd. Another flowing move saw Nolito score from a pass by Orellana in the 71st before Rafina lobbed the ball behind the defence for Orellana to add a fourth four minutes later. Custom New England Patriots Jerseys. Oscar Diaz got Almerias second goal in the 88th but his side remained two points from safety. Celta, meanwhile, climbed into the middle of the standings. "We went out there with the same philosophy we have had all season," said Nolito, referring to coach Luis Enriques attacking style. "We have to celebrate this win because it is a big step toward staying up." Paulaos nightmare began when he left his back pass woefully short of reaching goalkeeper Adan Garrido, letting Rayo forward Rochina Raixes poach the ball and roll it in for the 14th-minute opener. The Brazilian centre back followed that mistake by unfortunately clearing a cross that floated into his own net in the 27th. Paulao immediately asked to be substituted and was replaced five minutes later, with the Rayo fans in Vallecas Stadium politely applauding him to show their support. Rayo, which has surged out of the drop zone to the middle of the table with only one loss in nine rounds, kept the pressure on as Joaquin Larrivey tapped in a rebound in the 52nd before Javier Chica got Betis consolation goal in the 79th. Betis was left on the brink of relegation, 10 points from safety with four games to go. Later, Barcelonas players and coach will be judged by their fans at Camp Nou after returning from three stinging defeats that threaten to leave the Catalan club without a major trophy for the first time since 2007-08. ' ' '