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Two days after the Pittsburgh Penguins put starting goaltender Tristan Jarry on waivers, Alex Nedeljkovic gave the team something to smile big about.
Not only did Nedeljkovic make 40 saves in the Penguins’ 5-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Friday night, but the Pens’ netminder contributed majorly to the team’s offense as well.
With 2:42 remaining in the third period and Sabres goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen pulled for an extra attacker, Nedeljkovic gathered in a Sabres’ dump-in along the end boards and shot the puck down the ice into Buffalo’s empty net. With the tally, Nedeljkovic became the 16th goalie in NHL history to score a goal and the ninth to do so in the last 20 seasons.
After scoring, Nedeljkovic skated over to the Penguins bench where he was mobbed by his teammates in a giant hug. As Nedeljkovic’s shot careened toward the empty net, Sidney Crosby looked back and smiled at the netminder, seemingly in disbelief.
“It was pretty extra,” Marcus Pettersson said per Pens Inside Scoop, “but I feel like in that situation, it needs to be extra.”
Nedeljkovic also registered an assist on Cody Glass’s game-winning, power-play goal in the second period. Nedeljkovic’s multi-point game was the NHL’s first by a goaltender since the Hurricanes’ Pyotr Kochetkov accomplished the feat on December 22, 2024.
Alex Nedeljkovic becomes the 16th goalie in NHL history to score a goal and the ninth to do so in the last 20 seasons.
He is the first goalie to record a goal and an assist in a game, and tonight marked the first two-point game by a goalie since Pyotr Kochetkov (12/22/24). pic.twitter.com/68kFLVhGbw
— Penguins PR (@PenguinsPR) January 18, 2025
The history the Penguins’ goaltender accomplished with the tally and the two-point night is staggering. Nedeljkovic is the only goaltender in NHL history to register a goal and an assist in the same game. Nedeljkovic is also the only player in hockey history to score a goal in the NHL (1), AHL (2), and ECHL (1). Per Chris Jastrzembski, a researcher for TNT, Nedeljkovic joins Tristan Jarry and Chris Mason as the only goaltenders to score a goal both in the NHL and AHL.
NHL: 1/17/25 vs. Buffalo
AHL: 11/17/23 vs. Providence and 3/10/18 vs. Hartford
ECHL: 12/30/16 vs. Atlanta
“It’s been part of my game as long as I can remember,” Nedeljkovic said. “Started from conversations with my dad in the car telling me, ‘don’t just throw the puck around the boards… try to make a smart play.’”
After the game, Nedeljkovic was presented the goal puck by Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan inside the team’s locker room.
“A fight away from a Gordie Howe (hat trick),” one of his Penguins’ teammates joked.
Nedeljkovic then took a team photo with his Penguins teammates to remember the moment forever.
So much love for Alex Nedeljkovic, NHL goal-scorer 🫶 pic.twitter.com/fQu1kVaQZR
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 18, 2025
“It’s nice to receive some of that excitement on my end,” Nedeljkovic said. “Maybe I pushed it a little too far with jumping into the bench [laughs]. But it’s my first goal, what do you expect?”
Despite his heroics the night before, Nedeljkovic will not start again for the Penguins in the back end of their back-to-back against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena, Saturday night.
After the Capitals’ morning skate, Spencer Carbery was jokingly asked how to contain Alex Nedeljkovic offensively.
“I had a feeling that one was coming,” Spencer Carbery said laughing. “You think he’ll play back-to-back?”
CAN’T SPELL LEGEND WITHOUT N-E-D pic.twitter.com/gEJ81fcj4G
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 18, 2025
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