In order for the New York Rangers to advance to the Eastern Conference finals for the second time in three years, the club is going to have to do something its never done before: beat the Pittsburgh Penguins in the playoffs. The Rangers hope to strike first in this fifth postseason meeting between the franchises, as they visit Pittsburgh for Fridays Game 1 battle at CONSOL Energy Center. The Penguins are 4-0 all-time in postseason series against the Blueshirts and boast a 16-4 record over those four playoff encounters. The only time New York was able to post more than one win in a series against the Pens was in the 1992 Division Finals, when Pittsburgh downed the Rangers in six games en route to its second straight Stanley Cup title. The most recent playoff encounter was in the 2008 conference semifinals when Pittsburgh ousted the Rangers in five games. New York, which made the conference finals in 2012, is in the second round for the third straight season after beating Philadelphia in seven games in the opening round. Home-ice advantage came in handy for the Blueshirts, as they claimed a 2-1 win at Madison Square Garden in the final test against the Flyers, improving to 6-0 all-time in Game 7s on home ice. In this round, however, the Rangers will have to prove they can win on the road against the Metropolitan Division champion Penguins. "Were battle-tested and ready for the next series," said Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault. "Philly was a real tough opponent, and you have to give them credit, it was a great series, but we know if you look on paper Pittsburgh is probably one of the best teams in the league. They were (13) points ahead of us in the regular season, so were going to have our hands full." The Pens and Rangers split four meetings during the 2013-14 campaign, with both teams recording 2-1-1 records. New York had lost five straight in Pittsburgh before ending that road slide with a 4-3 shootout win on Feb. 7. Game 2 is scheduled for Sunday in the Steel City, while New York gets to host the third meeting on Monday. Fatigue could be an issue for the Rangers at the start of this series, as New York will have played five games in a span of seven days through Game 3 of this set. The Pens, on the other hand, had three full days of rest heading into Game 1. Pittsburgh is in the second round after beating Columbus in six games during the conference quarterfinals. The Pens are after a second straight trip to the East finals after getting swept by Boston in the penultimate playoff round last spring. A big topic of conversation in the middle of the first round was Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkins lack of goal-scoring. But, after Malkin turned in a hat trick to help Pittsburgh clinch the series in Game 6, that likely puts an end to the discussion for now. Malkin ended with seven points on three goals and four assists. Crosby failed to score a goal in six games, but with six assists to his credit its difficult to say he was unproductive. Still, Crosby, the odds-on favorite to win this seasons Hart Trophy, hasnt recorded a goal in his last 11 playoff games and if he goes long without scoring one in this series it could become an issue once again. Crosby and Chris Kunitz led Pittsburgh with six points apiece during the season series with New York, with the captain notching a goal and five assists and Kunitz delivering three goals and three helpers. Malkin only played in two of the four meetings and had a goal and an assist. When things go wrong for Pittsburgh, nobody gets criticized more than No. 1 goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. Last spring, Fleury was replaced by Tomas Vokoun as the clubs starting goaltender after Game 4 of the opening round against the New York Islanders and did not start another game in the playoffs. Fleury struggled at times during the conference quarterfinals against Columbus, but not enough for head coach Dan Bylsma to make the switch to current backup Jeff Zatkoff. For the most part, Fleury was solid against the Blue Jackets in Round 1. He ended the series with a .908 save percentage and 2.81 goals against average. The 29-year-old is 49-36 with a .903 save percentage and .273 GAA throughout his playoff career. The biggest advantage New York has over the Penguins could be in net, where Rangers backstop Henrik Lundqvist is as steady as they come. The 32-year-old Swede posted a .919 save percentage and 2.11 GAA in the seven games against Philadelphia Lundqvist is a big reason the Rangers are so difficult to beat in a long series. With its win over Philly, the Blueshirts became the first team in NHL history to win a Game 7 in the first round in three consecutive postseasons. In five career Game 7s, Lundqvist is 4-1 with a 1.00 GAA, a .963 save percentage and has allowed two goals or fewer in all five games. The Rangers threw a balanced scoring attack at Philadelphia, with eight players tied for the team lead with two goals apiece and 17 skaters in all registered at least one point. Martin St. Louis and Brad Richards, both members of Tampa Bays 2004 Stanley Cup-winning team, led the way with six points on two goals and four assists, while fellow forwards Carl Hagelin, Benoit Pouliot and Mats Zuccarello each had two goals and two assists. Even physical forward Daniel Carcillo joined the fun, as the ex-Flyer scored two goals against his former team, including the first marker in Wednesdays 2-1 Game 7 victory. If there is one guy who needs to get going for New York its the clubs top offensive weapon Rick Nash. The big, talented winger led the team with 26 goals during the regular season, but he failed to score against the Flyers while notching four assists. Over 23 career playoff games, Nash only has managed two goals while recording 10 assists. Zuccarello posted two goals and four assists to lead the Rangers in scoring against the Pens during the season series. Both Fleury and Lundqvist started all four games in net. Pittsburghs No. 1 netminder had a 3.12 GAA in the season series, while Lundqvist was slightly better with a 2.88 GAA. Wholesale Authentic Air Jordan Free Shipping . In their first meeting for six years, the Frenchmen dropped serve twice in the first set, but Giquel broke Simon two more times in the second. Gicquel moves on to face sixth-seeded Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, who advanced with a 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5) win against wild card Pierre-Hugues Herbert, despite the Frenchmans 23 aces. Authentic Air Jordan Outlet . This should be celebrated because it will not always be this way. With the amount of money given to players by their clubs these days, it is a wonder that so many of those teams allow the sport to continue to take away many of their assets so they can play for a different team in the middle of their season. http://www.cheapauthenticairjordan.com/ . Louis Blues and back into top spot of the TSN.ca NHL Power Rankings. The Sharks had been ranked No. Authentic Air Jordan China . Trailing 2-1 from the first leg, Fiorentina levelled on aggregate in the 14th minute when Joaquin Sanchez Rodriguez headed back a long ball from David Pizarro and Pasqual smashed home an angled volley. Wholesale Authentic Air Jordan . The injury will keep the Finnish forward out of the Olympics. The 29-year-old has 20 goals and 41 points in 56 games this season, his first with Tampa Bay.Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - Matt Read and Sean Couturier picked up a goal and assist each to stoke Philadelphias 4-1 victory over New Jersey on Thursday. Just keep doing the little things right and eventually somethings going to go your way, Read noted. Its good to get one but you have to work hard every night and do the little things right and do the little things to help your team win. Wayne Simmonds and Jakub Voracek also lit the lamp for the Flyers, who kicked off their final homestand of calendar year 2014 with their second win in three outings. Claude Giroux and Mark Streit chipped in a pair of assists to back a 17-save effort by Ray Emery. Philadelphia continues its residency on Saturday afternoon by welcoming Carolina. Martin Havlat provided the sole offense for the Devils, who have lost eight of their last 10 overall. Cory Schneider surrendered three goals on 35 shots in defeat. Schneider flashed the right pad to deny a Simmonds one-timer from the right wing with 7 1/2 minutes played in the third period. The hosts received the final break in the contest, as Michael Raffl was pulled down from behind by Mike Cammalleri with 4:55 left in regulation and the hosts cashed in as Simmonds screened Schneider and managed to flip home a Streit rebound 39 seconds later. You get that insurance goal, you dont want to go down right to the last two minutes only up one goal there, Simmonds said. We were getting shots in on the power play and I thought it was only a matter of time before we put one in. Voracek hit the empty net with 2 1/2 minutes remaining, shortly after Schneider was removed. I think we didnt do a good enouggh job getting pucks to the net.dddddddddddd I thought we had zone time; we got pucks to the point quite a bit, said Devils head coach Peter DeBoer. I thought our D did not do a good enough job getting pucks to the net -- thats why the lack of shots. But I thought we spent enough time in their end to generate some more than we did. Despite committing the games second infraction, the Flyers picked up the games first goal while shorthanded -- their first while a man down all season. Read was tripped up at the blue line tracking a puck that eluded Devils defenseman Marek Zidlicky, got up, skated up the right wing and dished across for a one-timer from Couturier from the left side at 6:12 of the first period. Couturier and Read teamed up again with the former feeding the latter from the left-wing boards to the right side of the crease for an easy tap-in at 13:37. Emery slid across to stop a Steve Bernier breakaway backhander in the first three minutes of the second, but couldnt catch up to Havlats deflection of a Scott Gomez offering on a power play with 6:58 remaining in the second period. Game Notes Read snapped a seven-game goal drought ... The Flyers recorded a power-play goal for the sixth straight game, the longest current streak in the NHL ... New Jersey had won a franchise (KC/COL/NJ) record four in a row in Philadelphia and seven of nine (7-1-1) since January of 2011 ... Cammalleri returned to action after missing two games, while Dainius Zubrus missed his second contest due to a leg laceration ... Prior to the contest, the Devils placed forward Damian Brunner on waivers. ' ' '