Better late than never for Heinen

Danton Heinen’s first playoff goal in three years just past the midway point of the third period broke a tie to lift the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 7-4 victory over the New York Rangers on Saturday night to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round Eastern Conference series.

Pittsburgh blew a threegoal first-period lead but recovered behind the play of third-string goaltender Louis Domingue and Heinen, who jumped on a loose puck near the New York goal line and flicked a shot by Alexandar Georgiev 11:02 into the third.

Evan Rodrigues had two goals and assisted on another for the Penguins. Jeff Carter also scored twice for the Penguins.

Georgiev finished with 19 saves on 20 shots after taking over for Vezina Trophyfavorite Igor Shesterkin, who was chased after allowing four goals in the first period.

AVALANCHE 7, PREDATORS 3

Gabriel Landeskog scored twice in the second period, and top-seeded Colorado took a commanding 3-0 lead in the first-round Western Conference series.

Landeskog also had two assists. Nazem Kadri and Devon Toews each added a goal and an assist. Cale Makar had three assists. CAPITALS 6, PANTHERS 1 >> Ilya Samsonov rebounded after allowing an early goal to make 29 saves, and Washington grabbed a 2-1 series lead against Florida.

Alex Ovechkin scored a power-play goal and assisted on another and the Capitals blew out the Panthers.

T.J. Oshie deflected Ovechkin’s shot for one power-play goal, and Marcus Johansson, Trevor van Riemsdyk and Garnet Hathaway also scored for the Capitals, who shook off a 5-1 loss in Game 2 and an early deficit in Game 3.