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| 1445 Beiträge - Hardcoreposter
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PITTSBURGH, Pa. - 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. Roy Hibbert Authentic Jersey .com) - The Edmonton Oilers have been in spoiler mode for a while now, however as the season winds down they become more and more dangerous to opponents fighting for a playoff berth. David West Pacers Jersey . Erik Karlsson and the Ottawa Senators felt good after their 3-1 defeat of the Washington Capitals on Monday, their first back-to-back victory in 51 days and their first three-game winning streak at the Canadian Tire Centre this season. http://www.pacersjerseysteamofficialshop.com/Mark-Jackson-Je rsey-bs-53/ .Y. -- The Buffalo Sabres are shuffling their roster by promoting forward Phil Varone from their AHL affiliate in Rochester. David West Jersey . The London club made the announcement in a statement, naming the German as its new manager on an 18-month contract. While Fulhams statement failed to mention Meulensteens fate, the Dutchman later told BBC Radio 5 that he had been relieved of his duties at Fulham. Roy Hibbert Jersey . The team says the Spain international has a muscle pull in his right leg. Barcelona hosts third-division side Cartagena in the return leg of their round-of-32 tie after winning their first meeting 4-1.UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- The New York Islanders won the game. And then, they didnt. And theyre still trying to figure out why. Kevin Shattenkirk and Alexander Steen scored in the shootout to give the St. Louis Blues a 4-3 win over the Islanders on Saturday following a puzzling goal reversal call in overtime. After T.J. Oshie tied it for the Blues with 27 seconds left in regulation, Thomas Vanek appeared to score the winner for the Islanders on the power play with 1:15 left in overtime -- but the play was overturned on review at the NHL offices in Toronto. The puck hit Vaneks skate blade and dribbled past Blues goaltender Jaroslav Halak, but a distinct kicking motion that usually negates goals wasnt apparent. "I thought it was a terrible call," Vanek said. "I think we all know what a kicking motion is. My skate never elevated, it was on the ice the whole time. I dont know if its because who we are. I think if thats Pittsburgh or some of those top teams, its maybe a goal. "For that to be overturned is just too bad." Islanders coach Jack Capuano wouldnt be drawn into the controversy -- but knew what he saw. "The referees made the right call on the ice," Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. "Then they must have seen something in Toronto that was conclusive." Added Blues coach Ken Hitchcock: "They arent going to make a mistake when it goes to Toronto." The Islanders had an early 2-0 lead for the second straight game. And again, they found themselves tied and in a battle. The Islanders (21-25-8) have led by two or more goals 15 times in 54 games this season -- and are 6-4-5 in those contests. Matt Martin put the Islanders ahead 3-2 midway through the second period. The home team was almost able to withstand the Blues relentless pressure in the games closing minutes. Earlier in the period, Oshies shot hit both posts but didnt cross the goal line behind Islanders goalie Kevin Poulin. Vanek and Kyle Okposo scored in the first for the Islanders, who lost for the fifth time in 15 games. Vladimir Tarasenko scored twice for the Blues. Poulin made a number of acrobatic saves for New York, with hiss best being a point-blank pad save on Blues leading scorer Steen midway through the second.dddddddddddd He also denied Steen and Oshie during a power play midway through the third. But the Blues (35-11-5) wouldnt quit, leaving Hitchcock pleased. "This was good, gritty road win," he said. "I like the way the team played in the third period." Vanek opened the scoring at 4:01 of the first, slapping the puck by Halak for his 19th of the season. Vanek has points in 17 of his last 19 games with nine goals and 16 assists during the stretch. The 30-year-old left wing was acquired from Buffalo on Oct. 27 for Matt Moulson and two high draft picks. The line of Vanek, John Tavares and Kyle Okposo was at it again at 15:11 when Okposo jammed the puck past Halak for his 22nd goal of the year. Fans at Nassau Coliseum also chanted "U-S-A! U-S-A!" for Okposo, who wasnt picked for the U.S. team for the Winter Games next month in Russia even though hes having a breakout season. Okposo already has a career-high 54 points. Tarasenko cut the margin in half at 17:17 of the first, beating Poulin high from about 30 feet out. The 22-year-old right wing scored again at 1:17 of the second, his 17th goal this season. He hit the left post late in second and had a golden chance midway through the third when his rebound shot appeared to hit both posts without going into the net. The Blues won the previous meeting this season, 5-1 at the Scottrade Center on Dec. 5. They were completing visits to all three local teams. They defeated the Rangers 2-1 on Thursday after losing 7-1 in Newark to the Devils. "This a great way to end the trip with a bonus point," Oshie said. "We found a way to battle back and well have a fun ride home." NOTES: The Blues host the Devils on Tuesday. St. Louis is 16-3-1 against the East this season. They are 40-10-6 against the East since 2010-11, league-best intra-conference play. ... The Islanders are 19-6-3 when they score at least three goals and are 2-19-5 when they do not. ... Ten members of the Blues will represent their countries at the Olympics, tying Chicago and Detroit for the most among NHL teams. cheap nfl jerseys ' ' '
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| Beitrag vom 26.12.2014 - 08:17 |
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