The Pittsburgh Penguins have been let down by their goaltending for much of the season. But that certainly wasn’t the case when the Penguins took on the Buffalo Sabres Friday night.
And the guy between the pipes happened to make NHL history.
Alex Nedeljkovic became the first goaltender in NHL history to record a goal and an assist in the same game – to go along with his 40-save effort – as the Penguins defeated the Sabres, 5-2. The Penguins had three power play goals in this game by Rickard Rakell, Cody Glass, and Bryan Rust. Anthony Beauvillier added another on a beautiful finish from a beautiful feed from Glass.
But the story of the night was Nedeljkovic. He now has goals at every level of professional hockey – in the ECHL, AHL, and now the NHL – and is the only goaltender to ever accomplish that. And his historic night is all teammates and coaches wanted to talk about after the game as well:
“That was really cool for Ned,” Matt Grzelcyk said. “He plays the puck so well. The play kind of opened itself up perfectly, and that was so cool when he came to the bench rushing to us, so, the celebration’s definitely what you enjoy most.”
“That was awesome,” Rakell said. “Just to see him track down the goal and just see him celebrating after… that was awesome. So, super happy for him, and that really sealed the deal for us.”
“Actually, it’s my second time backing him up when he scored,” fellow goalie Joel Blomqvist said. “Last year in Wilkes, he scored, too, so… I guess I have to get used to it now.”
“It was great,” head coach Mike Sullivan said. “Obviously, one of his strengths is his ability to play the puck. 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.”
“It was awesome,” Rust said. “I love that s—. Sorry for that word, but that’s cool. I’ve seen my second one live, in person, and it’s just as cool every time.”
And as for the man of the evening… what did he think of finally scoring a goalie goal at the NHL level?
“Relief,” Nedeljkovic said. “It’s really exciting. You know, I’ve always enjoyed playing the puck. Growing up, I watched some of the best guys do it… Marty Turco, Marty Brodeur were two guys I watched a lot and learned a lot from in terms of puck handling. And, it’s been part of my game as long as I can remember.”
Nedeljkovic explained that he kind of just “let it go” when spinning around and firing the puck, and he had no idea where it went. He took a…