Nedeljkovic gets goal, assist, makes 40 saves in Penguins win against Sabres

BUFFALO -- Alex Nedeljkovic had a goal and an assist and made 40 saves for the Pittsburgh Penguins in a 5-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Friday.

Nedeljkovic became the 16th goaltender in NHL history to be credited with a goal, and the 11th to shoot and score. He is also the first goaltender to register a goal and an assist in the same game and the only one to have scored in the NHL, AHL and ECHL.

“It’s really exciting,” Nedeljkovic said. “I’ve always enjoyed playing the puck. Growing up, I watched some of the best guys do it, like Marty Turco, Martin Brodeur were two guys that I watched a lot and really learned a lot from in terms of puck handling. It’s been part of my game as long as I can remember.”

With Filip Gustavsson of the Minnesota Wild having scored on Oct. 15 against the St. Louis Blues, this is the first season in NHL history in which two goaltenders have scored a goal.

Cody Glass and Bryan Rust each had a goal and an assist for the Penguins (19-20-8), who had lost three straight.

“I thought [Nedeljkovic] was spectacular all night,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “I thought he made some huge saves throughout the course of the game. I don't think we were as tight as we needed to be defensively, and he was there to make the save for us. Our power play was terrific tonight, and I thought our power play and ‘Ned’ essentially made the difference in the game. I know we're capable of another level 5-on-5 and we've played a better game 5-on-5 most recently. And I think we've got to try to tighten up there.”

Owen Power and Zach Benson scored, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 14 saves for the Sabres (17-22-5).

“The biggest difference was, first, they out-special-teamed us,” Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. “But when you have the number of opportunities we had to put the puck in the back of the net, like second period from 2-on-1s to breakaways to [Tage Thompson], point-blank two or three times in the slot, backdoor plays, you’ve got to convert. I mean, I’ll give their goalie credit, he made some good saves, but I thought we made him look too good.”

Power gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead on the power play at 15:16 of the first period. He held the puck at the blue line before walking into the high slot and beating Nedeljkovic high inside the right post.

Rickard Rakell’s one-timer from the right circle on the power play went far side to tie it 1-1 at 1:41 of the second period.

Anthony Beauvillier took a stretch pass from Glass for a breakaway and scored glove side 27 seconds later to put the Penguins ahead 2-1 at 2:08.

Glass made it 3-1 with another power-play goal at 11:43. Philip Tomasino curled behind the back of the net before sending a pass to Glass in the slot, who snapped it past Luukkonen stick side.

Rust was alone in the left circle for a wrist shot that went high glove far side on the power play to extend Pittsburgh’s lead to 4-1 at 1:09 of the third period.

With Luukkonen pulled for the extra attacker, Benson directed a pass from Thompson stick side to narrow it to 4-2 at 14:46.

Buffalo had 32 of its 42 shots over the final two periods.

“You look in the second, we probably had four grade-A’s,” Benson said. “I didn’t think we did a great job getting traffic there by no means, but when you shoot from those spots, as much as you want traffic, we’ve got some elite shooters that can pick their spots from where they’re shooting.”

Nedeljkovic was at the end boards behind his net when he sent the puck 183 feet down the ice into an empty net at 17:18 for the 5-2 final. He then jumped into the Penguins bench to celebrate.

“I had to kind of spin around and I just, I let it go,” he said. “I didn't know at first if it was on line. It could have been in the corner, it could have got two feet off the ground or not even left the ice. Like, I wasn't sure.

“I got a little bump from one of their guys, spun me around again, so I didn't see it until it was probably maybe at the far blue, and at that point, I saw it was on line, but I saw it was on the ice so I didn't think it had much to it, but everybody was going nuts. And I saw [Erik Karlsson] had his arms in the air, and I was like, ‘Oh, this is gonna go in.’ So, yeah, and then just straight beeline for the bench after that.”

Said Sullivan: “I think he’s scored in every League now. The guys were joking with him, they said all he was missing was a fight for the Gordie Howe hat trick.”

NOTES: Nedeljkovic is the fourth goalie in Penguins history with two points in a game after Tom Barrasso, Wendell Young and Michel Dion. … He joined Tristan Jarry (Nov. 30, 2023) as the second Penguins goalie to score a goal. The Nashville Predators are the only other franchise in NHL history with multiple goalies with a goal (Pekka Rinne on Jan. 9, 2020 and Chris Mason on April 15, 2006). … Pittsburgh played without defenseman Kris Letang, who was a late scratch because of illness. Sullivan said postgame they’ll see how he is Saturday, when the Penguins visit the Washington Capitals. … Benson also had an assist for his 11th career multipoint game, one shy of Jack Eichel for fourth-most by a teenager in Sabres history.