NHL News

Home

Teams

Quizzes

Newsletter

Danton Heinen, Pittsburgh Penguins (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)

3 Takeaways From Penguins’ 3-2 Win Over Rangers

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Jeremy Schouppe | Last updated Feb 8, 2025 10:15 AM ET

The Pittsburgh Penguins had to play a game without their captain and superstar Sidney Crosby. The Penguins also remained without their other superstar forward, Evgeni Malkin, having to battle undermanned against a New York Rangers team that had just added star forward J.T. Miller in a blockbuster trade with the Vancouver Canucks. The Rangers had beaten the Penguins in the first two matchups of this season’s series.

Despite missing two massive pieces of their roster, the Penguins pulled out a 3-2 win over the Rangers after surviving a New York-dominated third period. Here are three takeaways from the Penguins’ third win in their last four games.

Penguins Desperately Defend Third-Period Lead

It is no secret that the Penguins have struggled to keep the puck out of their net, as they allow 3.39 goals per game, the second-most in the NHL. I am guessing that many Penguins fans didn’t feel confident holding this one-goal lead as the third period played out. The Rangers got 32 shot attempts to the Penguins’ three, and the Rangers outshot the Penguins 7-0.

The Rangers’ domination in the third period was somewhat shocking, considering the Penguins dominated the puck for much of the first 40 minutes. They had 54 shot attempts to the Rangers’ 28 and had 90.9% of the high-danger chances.

While it worked this time, turtling in the defensive zone will not be a sustainable way of winning games, as the Rangers managed five high-danger chances and 1.09 expected goals in the third period and likely would have scored if it wasn’t for Alex Nedeljkovic. He saved all seven shots in the period and turned away all five high-danger shots on net.

Danton Heinen Fitting Right Back in With the Penguins

Danton Heinen spent his 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons with the Penguins; in his first season with the team, he scored his career-high 18 goals in 76 games. Heinen then played for the Boston Bruins in 2023-24 before signing a two-year contract with the Canucks this offseason. Heinen was then traded from the Canucks back to the Penguins in a deal that was centered around defenseman Marcus Pettersson.

Heinen has been back in a Penguins uniform for three games and has been impressive despite not being able to get on the scoresheet yet. In the victory over the Rangers, he finished the game tied for the team lead in shots on goal and high-danger chances and led in individual expected goals.

In the three games since joining the Penguins, he has the most high-danger chances on the team, is tied for the second most shots, and has the third most expected goals. With the addition of Heinen to the lineup, once the Penguins get Crosby and Malkin back, their middle six forwards are going to look much more competitive. Head coach Mike Sullivan now has options of how he can spread out his lineup with another decent goal-scoring option.

While Heinen hasn’t scored for the Penguins yet, he is due for his first, considering he has 1.13 individual expected goals in his first three for the Penguins. His playstyle fits much better with the Penguins‘ high-flying playstyle than it did in the slow and structured way the Canucks played. I am sure the offensive production will start translating to points sooner rather than later based on the quality of the scoring chances that he is getting.

Penguins’ Defensive Zone Coverage Desperately Needs Work

While the Penguins came out victorious against the Rangers and dominated the first 40 minutes, they made two significant mental lapses in the first two periods, which resulted in the puck going in the back of their net both times.

On both of these goals, the Penguins failed to attack the puck in the defensive zone, which allowed Vincent Trocheck and Adam Fox to walk into the slot uncontested and fire wrist shots that beat Nedeljkovic cleanly. Both of these goals were graded as medium-danger chances. However, no player in the league was turning these shots down from point-blank range.

FOXY WIRES IT IN. pic.twitter.com/ZeJMC4zQpp
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) February 8, 2025

In addition to the goals they allowed, the Penguins looked lost trying to defend their third-period lead. They allowed 32 shot attempts and 18 scoring chances, getting only 3.35% of the expected goals in the third period. The Penguins have been allowing far too many quality scoring chances all season. Until they can do a better job of suppressing the opponent’s chances, this team will continue to have inconsistent results as they have all season.

Regardless of how ugly the last 20 minutes against the Rangers were, the Penguins persevered without two of their leaders and got a win against a division rival. There were a lot of positives in the first 40 minutes of this game, and a lot the Penguins can learn from the last 20. This team will look to stay hot, playing the second half of a back-to-back against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.

All stats from Natural Stat Trick