(Pittsburgh) Louis Domingue still remembers the times of his youth when he put on his inline skates, pulled a hockey net down the street and imagined himself competing in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Updated yesterday at 11:42 p.m.
What the Pittsburgh Penguins goalie is going through right now goes beyond his wildest dreams.
The veteran saved 32 shots, including several shorthanded shots in the third period, to keep his team in the game and allow Danton Heinen to score the game-winning goal in a 7-4 Penguins victory over the Rangers. New York, Saturday night.
“For the, what, seven years, I’ve shuttled between the NHL and the American League. Today, it’s like I’m a rookie again,” said Domingue, who was pushed into the starting role due to injuries to the Penguins’ two regular goalies, Tristan Jarry and Casey DeSmith.
“I’m a playoff rookie…every day brings something new to me. It’s a new experience. »
And Saturday’s game was quite a challenge for a “playoff rookie”.
The Penguins took a 2-1 lead in the first-round series, but got a scare in the second period when the Rangers rallied from a three-goal deficit to tie the game 4-4.
Heinen finally put a smile on the faces of fans at PPG Paints Arena when he pounced on a loose puck near the visitors’ net in the middle of the third. His shot deceived the vigilance of Alexandar Georgiev on the short side and allowed the Penguins to take the lead – for good this time.
“A lot of teams don’t recover from a three-goal lead,” Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said. I believe that our victory demonstrates the experience and perseverance of our group. »
The locals had two penalty kills before Heinen’s goal.
“I experienced roller coaster emotions,” admitted Heinen, who was kicked out in the third period for a stick. “Our penalty kill has been unbelievable. Louis was our best player in those moments, but the guys fought in front of him. I was lucky to score the winning goal. »
The night started well for the Penguins, as Brock McGinn opened the scoring after less than two minutes. Kaapo Kakko then tied the game, but Jeff Carter and Evan Rodrigues – twice – beat Igor Shesterkin before the game. end of the first engagement.
After giving up four times on 15 shots, Shesterkin was kicked out of his net and replaced by Georgiev, playing in his first career playoff game, for the start of the second period.
“Igor was incredible,” Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant said. When you look at the whole, he has played 10 periods in the last five days. I thought it was a good time to allow him to relaunch.
“The good side of things is that we managed to climb the slope in second. The bad part is that they scored that goal in the third. »
Indeed, the change had the effect Gallant intended, as Frank Vatrano, Artemi Panarin and Andrew Copp enabled the visitors to bring both teams back to square one for the third period.
Heinen, however, gave his team a one-goal lead at 11:02 of the third period with his first goal in three years in the playoffs.
Jake Guentzel then doubled the Penguins lead by taking advantage of an empty net, then Carter also scored in an abandoned goal for his second goal of the game.
The fourth duel will take place on Monday evening.
With Will Graves, Associated Press