Danton Heinen scored a tiebreaking goal at 11:02 of the third period Saturday as the Pittsburgh Penguins downed the visiting New York Rangers 7-4 for a 2-1 first-round playoff series lead.

After the Rangers erased a three-goal deficit to tie it 4-4, Heinen caught up with a loose puck that squirted out of a tangle in the corner and, from the right circle, ripped it between the pads of goaltender Alexandar Georgiev.

Jake Guentzel and Jeff Carter, with his second of the game, added empty-netters to seal it.

Evan Rodrigues had two goals and an assist, Brock McGinn also scored, and Mike Matheson added three helpers and Sidney Crosby two for the Penguins. Pittsburgh goaltender Louis Domingue made 32 saves and had an assist.

Kaapo Kakko, Frank Vatrano, Artemi Panarin and Andrew Copp scored for the Rangers.

Capitals 6, Panthers 1

Goalie Ilya Samsonov made 29 saves for his first playoff victory as Washington defeated visiting Florida to gain the series lead against the NHL’s No. 1 team.

The eighth-seeded Capitals lead the best-of-seven series 2-1 against the top-seeded Panthers, who won the Presidents’ Cup as the NHL’s top team in the regular season. Game 4 is set for Monday night in Washington D.C.

The Capitals, who rallied from an early 1-0 deficit, got goals from T.J. Oshie, Marcus Johansson, Trevor Van Riemsdyk, Alex Ovechkin, John Carlson (empty-netter) and Garnet Hathaway.

Avalanche 7, Predators 3

Gabriel Landeskog had two goals and two assists as visiting Colorado pushed Nashville to the brink of elimination.

The Avalanche lead the best-of-seven series 3-0.

Colorado goalie Darcy Kuemper left the game with 57 seconds remaining in the first period when the stick of Predators forward Ryan Johansen caught him through his mask. He stopped nine of 10 shots. Pavel Francouz came on in relief and made 18 saves.

Stars 4, Flames 2

Joe Pavelski scored twice, including the game-winning goal midway through the third period, to lead host Dallas to a victory over Calgary in Game 3 of their Western Conference first-round series.

Radek Faksa and Roope Hintz also scored for the Stars, while Miro Heiskanen collected two assists. Goaltender Jake Oettinger made 39 saves, his biggest a breakaway stop on Johnny Gaudreau with just over three minutes remaining.

Trevor Lewis and Elias Lindholm replied for the Flames. Goalie Jacob Markstrom stopped 28 shots.

–Field Level Media

Joe Pavelski scored twice, including the game-winning goal midway through the third period to lead the host Dallas Stars to a 4-2 victory over the Calgary Flames on Saturday in Game 3 of their Western Conference first-round series.

Dallas has a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series and will look to take a commanding edge in Game 4 at home on Monday.

Radek Faksa and Roope Hintz also scored for the Stars, while Miro Heiskanen collected two assists. Goaltender Jake Oettinger made 39 saves, his biggest a breakaway stop on Johnny Gaudreau with just over three minutes remaining.

Trevor Lewis and Elias Lindholm replied for the Flames. Goalie Jacob Markstrom stopped 28 shots.

With the score tied 2-2, Vladislav Namestnikov’s long shot was kicked out to the slot and Pavelski pounced on the rebound for this third goal of the playoffs. Pavelski has scored 10 goals in 16 career playoff games against Calgary. His 14 career playoff game-winning goals is the most among active players.

Hintz added an empty-net goal just before the buzzer.

The Flames failed to convert on four man-advantages in the game and have not scored on their last 11 power plays after making the most of their first chance in the opener.

Faksa’s first goal of the playoffs opened the scoring at 8:21 when he deflected Esa Lindell’s waist-high point shot into the cage.

Lewis replied at 13:45 to snap a 15-game postseason goal drought with his first playoff tally since April 20, 2016. During a scramble, Milan Lucic’s attempt was denied, but Lewis was on the spot for the rebound. It snapped Oettinger’s shutout streak at 128 minutes and 44 seconds, a run that dated back to early in the first period of the series opener.

Lindholm put the Flames ahead at 3:40 of the second period with his second of the playoffs. Calgary’s top line created all kinds of pressure before Gaudreau fed a pass to his open teammate in the right circle, and Lindholm buried the one-timer.

However, Pavelski’s rebound goal tied the game 2-2 just past the midway point of the second period. Seconds after Markstrom made a stacked-pad save on Heiskanen, Pavelski converted a rebound.

–Field Level Media

Danton Heinen scored a tiebreaking goal at 11:02 of the third period Saturday as the Pittsburgh Penguins downed the visiting New York Rangers 7-4 for a 2-1 first-round playoff series lead.

After the Rangers erased a three-goal deficit to tie it 4-4, Heinen caught up with a loose puck that squirted out of a tangle in the corner and, from the right circle, ripped it between the pads of goaltender Alexandar Georgiev.

Jake Guentzel and Jeff Carter, with his second of the game, added empty-netters to seal it.

Evan Rodrigues had two goals and an assist, Brock McGinn also scored, and Mike Matheson added three helpers and Sidney Crosby two for the Penguins.

Pittsburgh goaltender Louis Domingue made 32 saves and had an assist.

Kaapo Kakko, Frank Vatrano, Artemi Panarin and Andrew Copp scored for the Rangers.

New York starting goaltender Igor Shesterkin got pulled after allowing four goals on 15 shots in the first. Georgiev, in his NHL playoff debut, made 19 saves.

The Penguins got the first goal of the game and their first lead of the series at 1:57 of the first.

McGinn’s shot from deep off Shesterkin originally was waived off because the net came off its moorings, but upon review it was determined New York’s Patrik Nemeth had knocked it off.

At 5:08 of the first, Kakko scored on a rising shot from the right circle to tie it for the Rangers.

During a power play, a shot by Rodrigues went in off Carter to put Pittsburgh back on top 2-1 at 8:18 of the first.

Again on a power play, Pittsburgh pushed it to 3-1 at 10:31 of the first when Rodrigues chipped the puck past Shesterkin’s blocker.

Rodrigues struck again at 15:15 of the first, converting a feed from Brian Boyle to make it 4-1.

New York cut it to 4-2 at 6:51 of the second when Vatrano deposited a one-timer, and Panarin roofed a shot past Domingue at 7:58, making it 4-3.

New York tied it at 15:59 of the second when Copp batted the puck in as Pittsburgh’s Kris Letang crashed into a post and knocked the net off.

–Field Level Media

It’s not a do-or-die situation for the Los Angeles Kings, but Sunday’s Game 4 home clash with the Edmonton Oilers is very close to being that critical.

Having suffered consecutive blowout losses, the Kings trail the Oilers 2-1 in the best-of-seven Western Conference opening-round series. The Oilers rang up six-goal victories in consecutive playoff games for the first time in franchise history with a 6-0 win in Game 2 and then Friday’s 8-2 shellacking.

It’s up to the Kings to recover and return the series to Edmonton all-squared, otherwise the end may be nigh on their surprising season, even though they started the postseason with a 4-3 victory last week in Edmonton.

“We have to look at it as 2-1, you don’t want to dwell on all of the goals,” said Kings forward Phillip Danault, who referred to Friday’s loss as a “slap in the face.” “We didn’t play well at all and we have to work harder and be better. Everyone. We have to step up. No matter how many young guys we have, no matter how many veterans, we have to step up together and be better.”

A case can be made the Kings deserved a better fate in their last outing. Los Angeles managed 19 shots on goal in the first period but trailed 2-0 at the intermission. By the middle of the second period, it was a 5-0 game and the Oilers cruised to the victory.

“You can’t lose confidence this time of the year,” insisted defenseman Alex Edler. “We know what kind of team we have and we haven’t shown it over the last two games. We just have to look ahead to the next one.”

The Oilers may be rolling but should be well aware how the tide can turn. For their part, they are saying the right things while knowing they can take a stranglehold on the series and give themselves an opportunity to clinch at home and punch a ticket to the second round.

“We don’t really look at it as 14-2 (in the last two games), we look at it as we’re up 2-1 in the series with a really important game on Sunday,” said forward Evander Kane, who posted his first career playoff hat trick on Friday and has five goals in the two routs. “There’s still room for our game to improve.

“I think we can have better starts. I don’t think we’ve had a great start in any of the three games in this series, but we’ve stuck with it.”

The Oilers are best to remind themselves how they have relied upon goaltender Mike Smith to hold firm in the first period of both games. Smith was also strong early in the third period Friday when the Kings had a chance to inch closer from their 5-2 deficit before the Oilers scored a trio of late goals.

“They have good pushes, they’re a solid team over there,” said Oilers captain Connor McDavid. “This is a long way from over.”

“Finding ways to win games, that’s all that matters this time of year. It doesn’t really matter how it looks or what happens,” McDavid said, trying to downplay the significance of one-sided wins. “I think we’ve done a good job of playing well, playing hard, playing physical. They played hard, but I think we did a good job of responding.”

–Field Level Media