Have the cardiac kids returned? God I hope not. But last night it sure seemed that way as the Pens threw everything they had at Henrik Lundqvist in the first period and still wound up down 1-0 when it ended. Martin Straka (2) scored on the power play with Whintey in the box for high sticking for the period’s lone tally.

But the fans at the Arena, yours truly included, weren’t worried. It was only one goal.

Then to start the second, things started to look like they were falling off the Penguins playoff run. Drury (3) and Avery (4) both scored in the first 3:37 of the frame to extend the deficit to 3-0 and even the faithful got worried. Fleury at times seemed off his game but at other times made saves that brought roars from the fans.

But despite being down the fans did not keep quite for long as chants of “let’s go Pens” continued to echo through the Igloo.

The Pens seemed to feed off the energy and I said to my buddy John sitting next to me, If they can get out of this period down only by one goal they have a chance. I think Jarko Ruutu (2) heard me because at 8:13 he scored his second of the playoffs to trim the lead. Then, as everyone was still standing in the seats celebrating the Penguins stormed into the Rangers end again off the face-off.

Crosby went in behind the net and fought for the puck. His Sidness rifled a pass out to Dupuis in front of the net and he buried the shot just 14 seconds after Ruutu’s goal and the crowd stayed on their feet cheering. Despite some good chances, no more goals were generated and the Pens went into the locker room down 3-2 to start the third.

Then in the third the Pens stormed around the ice again. It took just 4:40 in the third for Marian Hossa (2) to tie the game. And much like the first two goals, the crowd was still standing when 20 seconds later the Penguins broke out of their own end on a three on two with Malkin lugging the puck to the goal after a feed from Malone. He threw the puck into the crease and onto the stick of Petr Sykora (4) to give the Pens the lead.

But it wouldn’t be enough. At 10:04 Gomez (4) tied the game up and as the minutes ticked away it looked like overtime was loming - and I continually remarked how I didn’t like the thought of overtime.

At 16:40 of the third, and with the Penguins pressuring, Straka went to the box for interference to give the Penguins a power-play chance. They had been 0-4 in the game and the fans hoped for a different outcome this time. At 18:19 their prayers were answered as Crosby threw a puck to the net that bounced off Malkin’s shin and into the cage. Lundvist was officially broken and thanks to Mr. Post in the waning seconds the Pens skated off the ice with a spectacular come from behind 5-4 victory to go up in the series 1-0.

Neither Lundvist nor Fleury were spectacular throughout the game, but both came up big at times and Fleury certainly did settle down after those first twenty three and a half minutes. He would up stopping 20 of 24 shots to keep the Pens post season streak alive at 5 straight wins.

This game was really the first time the Penguins have faced adversity in the playoffs and coming back from being down 3-0 and scoring on a late power play puts me in mind of the Flyers losing game one in their series to the Canadiens after jumping out to a lead.

Game two between the Pens and the Rangers will be Sunday afternoon at 2:00 PM.