PITTSBURGH, Pa. Nike Air Max Günstig Kaufen . - 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. Nike Air Max Outlet Schweiz . -- Houstons All-Star tandem of James Harden and Dwight Howard refused to let the Rockets give in to fatigue. Nike Air Max Günstig Outlet . He made that dream a reality Wednesday night. Olt, who grew up in Branford, Connecticut, attended UConn and made a nearly 2 1-2 hour trek to Boston a handful of times to watch the Red Sox, belted a two-run homer, one of four hit by Cubs in a 16-9 rout that completed a three-game interleague series sweep. http://www.airmaxschweiz.ch/ . PAUL, Minn.Calgary FlamesIn the eyes of many people, the Calgary Flames were the closest Canadian team to winning the Cup since the Habs won it in 1993. What a great run they had in the 2004 Playoffs as the entire city of Calgary seemed to be behind them. The great play of Jarome Iginla, Craig Conroy and goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff carried the Flames throughout the playoffs. After knocking off the Canucks in the first round, the Flames pulled off a huge upset, beating the Presidents Trophy-winning Red Wings in the second round. The sky was the limit for the Flames after taking down the Wings, and they almost came through. After beating San Jose in the Conference Final, they would square off against the Tampa Bay Lightning for the Cup. The Flames jumped out to a 3-2 series lead, but would devastatingly lose the final two games of the series, making the Lightning the 2004 Stanley Cup champions. The Flames were ridiculously close to winning the cup considering the series went the distance, and both game 6 and game 7 losses were one-goal games. There was also a controversial call in Game 6 where Flames forward Martin Gelinas looked to score a late goal to break a 2-2 tie, but it did not count. Replays showed that the puck did cross the line:The Flames were awfully close, and if a couple calls went their way, they couldve been the latest Canadian team to win a cup.Vancouver CanucksIts hard to forget the spirited run the Vancouver Canucks put together during the 2011 playoffs. The Canucks were actually a cup favorite, as they would finish first in the league and win the Presidents Trophy. They carried over their great regular season play over to the playoffs, knocking off the Blackhawks, Predators, and the Sharks in the opening three rounds. Players like the Sedins, Kesler, Burrows, and Bieksa were the anchors of their success. Luongo definitely struggled at times during the playoffs but ended up having a solid performance overall, recording four shutouts. The Canucks would face off against the Boston Bruins for the Stanley Cup, but after jumping out to a 3-2 series lead, they would eventually lose the series in 7 games. With so much on the line, it was surprising to see thee Canucks lose 4-0 in the seventh game in a pretty slow paced game. Nike Air Max Günstig. It was still a great run, and the furthest the Canucks would get in the Luongo era. You can check out a tribute to their run here:Edmonton OilersThe Oilers arguably had the most exciting playoff run out of any Canadian team since the Habs won it all in 1993. In 2006, the Oilers qualified for the playoffs as the eighth and final seed of the Western Conference. They were underdogs all the way through, but they just kept winning. First they took down the Presidents Trophy-winning Detroit Red Wings. They would then beat the Sharks in the second round and easily knock off the Ducks in the Conference Final in just five games. All of a sudden, the eighth seeded Oilers were in the Stanley Cup Final against the Carolina Hurricanes. Chris Pronger, Shawn Horcoff, Fernando Pasani, Ales Hemsky, and Ryan Smyth were some of the key pieces that carried the Oilers to the Cup Final. But nobody on the roster was more important than their goalie, Dwayne Roloson, who caught fire during the post-season. Roloson ended the playoffs with a .927 save percentage, but would unfortunately injure himself in the opening game of the Cup Final. Jussi Markkanen would start for the Oilers the rest of the way, and although he played fine, he did not bring the same quality of goaltending that Roloson brought. The Oilers would not be able to take down Cam Ward and the Hurricanes, as they would lose in seven games in a close series. It was fun to watch as they over-achieved with their underdog status and as many Oilers fans will tell you; you never know what could have happened if Roloson did not get hurt. You can see the Roloson injury here:So there you have it. Canadas Western Conference teams have gotten much closer to the Cup than the Eastern Conference teams since the Habs Cup win in 1993. The Winnipeg Jets just rejoined the league so they are yet to have a noteworthy run. Youve seen the East, and now youve seen the West. Who do you think was the closest Canadian team to winning a Stanley Cup since 1993? And which Canadian team do you think will break the slump and win it next? Tweet us @BarDown. ' ' '