VANCOUVER - Kendall Waston scored in the 70th minute Saturday as the Vancouver Whitecaps clinched a Major League Soccer playoff spot with a 1-0 victory over the Colorado Rapids. The hulking defender flung himself at a Pedro Morales corner kick to head home a goal his team desperately needed as the crowd of 21,000 at B.C. Place Stadium erupted. The Whitecaps entered the weekend one point up on Portland for the fifth and final spot in the Western Conference and had to win in order to advance after the Timbers defeated FC Dallas 2-0 in Texas earlier in the day. Vancouver will now visit Dallas in the Western Conferences No. 4 versus No. 5 one-game playoff on Wednesday. The Whitecaps (12-8-14) missed the 2013 post-season after making the playoffs back in 2012. The Rapids (8-18-8), who were only playing for pride, saw their winless run stretch to 14 games. The Whitecaps didnt know what result they required on the night until the Timbers game was completed just a few minutes into the match in Vancouver. Whitecaps head coach Carl Robinson looked to spark his team early in the second half by bringing on speedy striker Kekuta Manneh, and the 19-year-old caused an immediate buzz, rattling the crossbar in the 58th minute behind Clint Irwin with a shot that beat the Colorado goalkeeper cleanly but stayed out. A lack of offence — Vancouver went the equivalent of five games without scoring at one point this year — has been a storyline all season and looked like it might sink the Whitecaps until Robinson rolled the dice again by bringing on Erik Hurtado in the 67th minute with his final substitution. The striker was too sick to start the game but was right next to Waston when he scored his goal, and nearly buried a chance of his own five minutes later. Colorado gave Vancouver a scare with about 10 minutes remaining, but Whitecaps goalkeeper David Ousted calmly collected the ball after a couple of frantic seconds in the penalty area. Ousted again had to be sharp on two Gabriel Torres chances late to ensure he collected his 13th shutout of the season. Despite the joy at the final whistle, it looked early like it might not be Vancouvers night. The Whitecaps didnt look comfortable right from the opening whistle, with a number passes and chances going astray. Waston directed a header wide off a free kick in the ninth minute before Morales effort moments later flashed wide. Darren Mattocks had another effort in the 19th, but he too missed the target with a header. Morales then shanked a shot from inside the Colorado box seven minutes later. Vancouvers best chance of the half came in the 29th minute when Sebastian Fernandez skipped past a Rapids defender but couldnt beat Irwin from in tight. Colorados only shot on target of the opening 45 minutes came in injury time when Charles Eloundou cut off the rush and forced Ousted into a good save at the near post. Note: The Whitecaps honoured former captain Jay DeMerit before the game. The 34-year-old retired in July and is now an ambassador with the club. ... Both teams had to substitute defenders in the first half, with Steven Beitashour limping off for Vancouver in the 33rd minute, while Marvell Wynne exited for Colorado in the 42nd. Follow @JClipperton_CP on Twitter Custom Miami Dolphins Jerseys . A spokeswoman for the NLRB says its "a very incremental move" and does not necessarily indicate the board is close to a finding in the case. NFL owners filed an unfair labour charge against the players union in February, arguing that the union was not negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement in good faith. Cordrea Tankersley Jersey . "Youre next." Hardly. 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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 sttreak ends first could swing the balance of the series.dddddddddddd 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. 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