Penguins survive roller coaster of emotion to defeat Rangers in Game 3
Blow three-goal lead, rally to win after killing three straight penalties in Eastern First Round
"It was a roller coaster," Heinen said.
Heinen and the Penguins were riding in the front seat of the roller coaster throughout Game 3 of the Eastern Conference First Round against the New York Rangers at PPG Paints Arena before finally reaching the exit with a 7-4 win and a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 series.
They raised their hands and screamed in elation for four goals in the first period. They loosened up their seatbelts and almost fell out when the Rangers came back to tie the game in the second. But the Penguins rode the last loop with composure and ultimately survived the ride.
Heinen's goal at 11:02 of the third period was the difference before Jake Guentzel and Jeff Carter each tacked on an empty-net goal. Heinen's goal came 4:33 after he took his second offensive zone penalty in a span of 7:54.
The Penguins killed them both, along with Evgeni Malkin's tripping penalty, as part of what was a strong, rewarding, resilient and game-defining third period.
Game 4 is here Monday.
"I just think it's mindset," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "Obviously we didn't like the second period. It has been the worst period we played in the series. We just got away from the game that's brought us success. I mean, that's just the human element of sports. I said to the guys after the game what might be the most rewarding part for me as the coach in winning this game is that when you give up a three-goal lead and you allow a team back into the game in the fashion that we did, in a lot of those instances a lot of teams don't recover from that. I think it speaks volumes for the character of the group and the leadership that we have that we were able to move by it."
RELATED: [Complete Rangers vs. Penguins series coverage]
What they had to move by could have been a dagger in the series for the Penguins and, ultimately, their season.
The Penguins had a 4-1 lead after the first period without getting a single point from Sidney Crosby, Malkin, Bryan Rust and Guentzel. They were good enough to force the Rangers to pull Igor Shesterkin, the likely Vezina Trophy winner as the best goalie in the NHL, before the start of the second period in favor of Alexandar Georgiev.
But they did not get a shot on goal against Georgiev until 9:22 of the second, after the Rangers already scored two goals on 11 shots against goalie Louis Domingue to cut the lead to 4-3.
Andrew Copp's shorthanded goal, New York's second in the series against the Penguins' top power-play unit, made it 4-4 at 15:59.
Heinen took his first offensive zone penalty at 18:25 for hooking Adam Fox.
The roller coaster was out of control.
"You hate to be in the box, but the kill was unbelievable and Louis back there was our best killer," Heinen said. "It [stinks] being in there but the guys battled for me."
The Penguins got back on the rails with their penalty kill, a change of pace from the first two games, when their third-ranked regular-season PK (84.4 percent) was beaten twice by a Rangers power play that was fourth in the NHL during the regular season at 25.2 percent.
The Rangers mustered three shots on goal during their three straight power plays, spanning from 18:35 of the second through 8:29 of the third.
"I definitely thought that if we got out of our kills that we were going to have a chance to win that game," Domingue said. "I was very confident that we were going to win that game if we killed those two penalties [in the third period]. It gave us momentum."
It still took a game-changing save from Domingue to create the opportunity. He pushed across his crease from his left to right, got square on Artemi Panarin and stopped the forward's one-timer from the left face-off circle with his left shoulder at 10:21.
Heinen scored 41 seconds later.
"I just tried to put my body in front of it as kind of a wholesale moment, trying to get the frame in front of it," Domingue said of his save. "It was a huge moment for my confidence."
Once the Penguins had the lead, it was back to playing the kind of hockey they need to play.
Crosby and his linemates, Guentzel and Rust, dominated by controlling the puck below the goal line in the offensive zone. At one point Crosby had Rangers defenseman K'Andre Miller on a string, going back and forth, post to post, stopping and starting and turning and pivoting yet unable to get the puck off of the Penguins captain's stick.
Malkin and his linemates, Heinen and Kasperi Kapanen, followed suit, playing hard, straight ahead, in the offensive zone.
Pittsburgh had the next six shots on goal in the game after Heinen scored and outshot the Rangers 8-2 during the final 8:58.
The ride stopped and the Penguins got off with a lead in the series.
"It doesn't always go your way; what's most important is how you react to it," Sullivan said. "And that for me is the biggest takeaway from tonight. Obviously we didn't want the second period, but the fact that we were able to respond the way we did in the third, for me, I couldn't be more proud of the team."
