Penguins Take Game Three, Hold 2-1 Lead In Series

PITTSBURGH — Louis Domingue remembers dragging a net out into the street, pulling on his rollerblades and dreaming what it would be like to be in the NHL playoffs. The reality is surpassing the Pittsburgh Penguins’ backup to the backup goaltender’s greatest expectations. The journeyman stopped 32 shots — including a handful on the penalty kill in the third period with the Penguins reeling — to set the stage for Danton Heinen’s late tally as Pittsburgh surged past the New York Rangers 7-4 on Saturday night to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round series. The Penguins grabbed control of the series heading into Monday night’s Game 4 by chasing Vezina Trophy-favorite Igor Shesterkin in the first period, blowing a three-goal cushion in the second then responding even with the top line of Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust contributing nothing on the scoresheet until New York’s net was empty in the final minutes. The Penguins killed off a pair of penalties in the first half of the third to keep the score tied before Heinen jumped on a loose puck near the New York goal line and flicked a shot by Alexandar Georgiev 11:02 into the third to put the Penguins in front to stay. Evan Rodrigues had two goals and assisted on another for the Penguins. Jeff Carter also scored twice for the Pittsburgh while Brock McGinn started the scoring on what became two-plus hours of seismic momentum shifts with his first goal of the playoffs. Kaapo Kakko, Frank Vatrano, Artemi Panarin and Andrew Copp scored for the Rangers. Georgiev finished with 19 saves on 20 shots after taking over for Shesterkin, who was chased after allowing four goals in the first period.