PITTSBURGH — The Penguins had finally toppled the Shesterkin wall. Approximately 18,000 arms already ached from waving yellow rally towels endlessly. And the party seemed to just be starting inside PPG Paints Arena when Evan Rodrigues made it 4-1.
But when the buzzer sounded to end the second period Saturday, it looked as if the Penguins were about to throw away Game 3 – and maybe the whole series.
After blowing that lead, the Penguins buckled down in the third period, survived one of the NHL’s top power plays and grabbed back the lead when Danton Heinen scored the go-ahead goal with 8:58 left. They would hold on to beat the New York Rangers, 7-4, and take a 2-1 lead in the first-round playoff series.
Game 4 will be Monday at PPG Paints Arena.
The Penguins could not have dreamed of a better start as the series shifted to Pittsburgh. Fans were frenzied. Every bounce went their way. And Evan Rodrigues briefly turned back into the guy who lit it up in the season’s first half.
Brock McGinn scored the game’s first goal just 1:57 in. Behind the New York net, McGinn chipped the puck to the crease. It hit Rangers defenseman Patrik Nemeth in the pants, bounced off Igor Shesterkin and dropped into the net.
The on-ice officials initially waved off the goal because Nemeth had knocked the net off its moorings before the puck crossed the line. But it was ruled a good goal after a video review. The NHL explained that the Penguins were awarded the goal because the Rangers defenseman caused it to become dislodged.
That was the first time in the series that the Penguins played with the lead.
Kaapo Kakko of the Rangers scored off the rush to tie the score. But the Penguins got a power-play goal just over three minutes later to reclaim the lead.
Jeff Carter, who bowled over Shesterkin late in Game 2, was parked just outside of the blue paint when Rodrigues threw a long shot on goal. Shesterkin, who looked shaky from the start in his first road playoff start, was unable to glove it. It popped out, glanced off of Carter then trickled through the goalie’s pads.
Moments later, Rodrigues and the second power-play unit connected again.
In Games 1 and 2, the Penguins only got goals from their top four forwards, leading to a lot of questions about the lack of secondary scoring. Rodrigues and the rest of his bottom-six brethren were apparently sick of that recurring storyline.
His initial shot missed the net. But the puck bounced off the end boards, though Shesterkin’s feet and right back to Rodrigues, who buried the rebound.
The “Eeeee-gorrr! Eeeee-gorrr! Eeeee-gorrr!” chants got louder and louder.
The building went bonkers when Rodrigues whipped a right-handed wrister past the Vezina favorite, giving the Penguins four goals on their first 11 shots.
The Rangers pulled Shesterkin, who might still have been shaken after his Game 2 collision with Carter, after the first period. The Russian made just 11 saves on 15 shots after he stopped 118 of 124 over the first two games of the series.
Apparently, the Penguins also decided they would sit out the second period.
They looked completely discombobulated as their lead disappeared. Their puck management was poor. They sat back on their heels defensively and watched the Rangers pepper Domingue. They never really threatened Shesterkin’s replacement, Alexander Georgiev. And they made unfathomable mental mistakes.
They allowed the Rangers to score on another 3-on-2 rush. This time, it was Frank Vatrano who finished it off. Then Artemi Panarin roofed a shot short side on Louis Domingue, as the right-catching goalie was caught off his angle again.
The Penguins came excruciatingly close to giving the Rangers the tying goal. During a delayed penalty, Domingue headed to the bench for an extra attacker. Rodrigues made a blind pass back to the point. Nobody was home. The crowd gasped as the puck skittered the length of the ice and glanced off the right post.
The sense of relief didn’t last long. The Penguins gave up a short-handed goal, the second they have allowed this series, to Andrew Copp. Kris Letang coughed up the puck, lost his stick then slid into the net as he chased after Kevin Rooney in vain. With Domingue down and out, Copp tapped home the rebound.
The wild crowd that rattled Shesterkin was suddenly murmuring in disbelief.
In the first half of the final period, the Penguins survived three power plays for the Rangers, who had scored a big goal that way in both Games 1 and two.
Domingue, who very much looked like a fringe NHLer in the first two periods, rose to the challenge. He was critical on those key kills. Then he made a game-changing save on Panarin, lunging across to get his left shoulder on his one-timer.
Moments later, Heinen came out of the right corner to beat Georgiev five-hole. Evgeni Malkin helped make it happen, hitting Nemeth to create a turnover.
Jake Guentzel scored an empty-netter, his fourth goal of the series, to seal it.
Carter added another to make a near disaster end up looking like a laugher.
