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PITTSBURGH, Pa. Anthony Davis 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. Tyson Chandler Lakers Jersey . -- What Anthony Jennings lacked in experience, LSU more than compensated for with a talented supporting cast in the Outback Bowl. Byron Scott Jersey . And though his comeback night didnt quite go to script, Bryant couldnt help reflecting on the work necessary to get back on that court -- and all the months of steady labour ahead to reclaim his game. Bryant had nine points and eight rebounds in his season debut, but Amir Johnson scored a career-high 32 points in the trade-depleted Toronto Raptors 106-94 victory over Los Angeles on Sunday night. http://www.lakersbasketballshop.com/Wilt-Chamberlain-Jersey/ . So much so that even a simple foul pop up to the first baseman turned into a run. Houstons four-run rally in the ninth inning to beat the Seattle Mariners 6-4 on Monday night was capped by a bizarre play that started as Crowe fouled out to first baseman Justin Smoak with runners on second and third.TORONTO - Toronto FC heads down to Florida this weekend wearing a broad smile.Leaving snow and bitter cold for the Orlando sunshine is one reason for the happy face. But off the field, pieces have been falling into place for an MLS franchise still looking for a winning formula in its ninth season.Polish international defender Damien Perquis and veteran French midfielder Benoit Cheyrou both joined the club this week, adding skill and big-league experience from Europe in key positions.And a source confirmed Friday that Toronto is close to getting star playmaker Sebastian Giovinco earlier than expected.The 28-year-old Juventus forward is expected to arrive in time for the start of the season. Toronto announced the signing of Giovinco on Jan. 19 but said then that the five-foot-four Italian would come to MLS in July once his current contract expires.Giovinco, known as the Atomic Ant, has seen limited action with Juventus in recent days and his early arrival should be confirmed early next week.Having Giovinco for a full season will add to an already hefty payroll, but should not impact the salary cap since only a small amount of his pay as a designated player counts against the cap. More importantly, it will allow Toronto to immediately plug the Italian star into the lineup and start building around him.GM Tim Bezbatchenko was out of town Friday and head coach Greg Vanney said he could not confirm a date for Giovincos arrival.Obviously Im optimistic, said Vanney. Id love to be able to plug him into the team starting with the first game of the year.Toronto opens March 7 in Vancouver.Giovinco is expected to play in the hole behind newly acquired American international striker Jozy Altidore. The 33-year-old Cheyrou will slot in beside U.S. lynchpin Michael Bradley in central midfield while Perquis and Scottish veteran Steven Caldwell anchor the defence.The goal will be to find space for Giovinco to work his magic between the opposition midfield and backline.Toronto will look to Brazils Jackson, Canadian Jonathan Osorio, Daniel Lovitz and veteran Robbie Findley to patrol the flanks. There are younger optioons as well, like newly signed homegrown player Jay Chapman and Vanney even had teenage striker Jordan Hamilton seeing time on the wing Friday, but Bezbatchenko may well look to add another winger. James Worthy Jersey. .The 30-year-old Perquis and Cheyrou are expected to join the team in Orlando, as are draft picks Micheal Ramos and Salvador Bernal. Brazilian winger Jackson remains at home, awaiting the birth of his child.Gilberto is also back in Brazil awaiting his fate. The Brazilian striker is the odd man out with Toronto, which is one over the limit of three designated players.Bradley and Altidore are with the U.S. national team and are not expected to join the team until Feb. 9 when the squad returns to Toronto for training. The team goes back to Florida on Feb. 16 and will be based out of Bradenton until its return March 1.Adding experience was a key goal for Toronto in the off-season. The feeling was the club had good young talent, but had to rely on some of it too much last season.Vanney, during his time at Bastia, played against Cheyrou in France and said he got word of the Frenchmans interest in coming to North America through Laurent Courtois, a mutual friend and former MLS player. Were very very happy that we managed to pull it off and get him, said Vanney. Hes an outstanding player whos won championships, with an immense amount of experience.Cheyrou is a left-foot midfielder who works hard on and off the ball, with a range of passing that is second to none, according to Vanney.He hits the 30-, 40-yard ball across the field like its a five-yard pass. Cheyrou will be especially important in July when Bradley is expected to be away with the U.S. team at the Gold Cup. Vanney made a point of including Collen Warner in his discussions about the midfield Friday, signalling that the five-year MLS veteran will also have a role to play.Well have an interesting midfield, no matter how it shapes up, said Vanney.We have some dangerous guys in a lot of places, he added. The team has the day off Saturday before boarding a plane Sunday to the Sunshine State.———Follow @NeilMDavidson on Twitter. ' ' '