BUFFALO – Long before he stopped a puck behind his net and flung it down the ice toward the Sabres’ open net late in Friday’s 5-2 win, Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Alex Nedeljkovic was enjoying one heck of a game.
Nedeljkovic stymied the Sabres all night, outplaying his his counterpart, Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. In the second period, the American recorded the secondary assist on Cody Glass’ power-play goal that would prove to be the winner.
Then, as he approached the 40-save mark, Nedeljkovic, one of the NHL’s best puck-handling netminders, saw that yawning cage 183-feet down the ice.
In a matter of seconds, it became the game of his life.
After the puck crossed the line at 17:18, an excited Nedeljkovic raced to the bench and jumped in to celebrate with his teammates.
He became the first NHL goalie to register a goal and an assist in the same game. The Sabres had never had a goalie score a goal against them.
Nedeljkovic is no stranger to goals, having also scored in the AHL and ECHL.
When he lofted a shot Friday before what remained of the capacity crowd of 19,070 fans in KeyBank Center, he had no idea where the puck would go.
“I didn’t know at first if it was on line,” said Nedeljkovic, whose 40 saves tied his season high. “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 (line), 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 (defenseman 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.”
GOALIE GOAL! GOALIE GOAL! GOALIE GOAL! pic.twitter.com/SCwSAcVZg2
— NHL (@NHL) January 18, 2025
Nedeljkovic said scoring a goal in the NHL felt like a “relief.”
“I’ve always enjoyed playing the puck,” he said. “Growing up, I watched some of the best guys do it, like Marty Turco, Marty 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.
“Started from just conversations with my dad in the car telling me, like, ‘Don’t just throw the puck around the boards every time you get it. Try to make a smart play with it, put it on guys’ tape.’”
For the Sabres, the loss stings because they outplayed their pedestrian opponent with a below-average goalie. Nedeljkovic’s netminding – he began the night with a 3.40 goals-against average and an .886 save percentage – and the Penguins’ special teams proved to be the difference.
“I thought we played a rock-solid game,” Sabres center Tage Thompson said. “I don’t think the score is very indicative of how the game should’ve turned out.”
In addition to Glass, Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust scored power-play goals.
“The biggest difference was, first, they out-special-teamed us,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said.
Luukkonen, who has had some terrific outings recently, couldn’t make some key stops. He made just 14 saves.
“They took advantage of our big mistakes on the PK,” Ruff said. “They made the same mistakes, we didn’t take advantage. You either get a big save or you don’t get a save. We needed a save. We probably needed a save at the start of the third period (when Rust scored to make it 4-1).”
The Sabres led early, getting a power-play goal from defenseman Owen Power 15:16 into the first period, his first point on the man advantage this season.
They’ve scored first 23 times this season but are 11-8-3 in those games.
After Rakell scored 1:11 into the second period, Anthony Beauvillier scored a breakaway goal at 2:08, putting the Penguins up for good.
Sabres winger Zach Benson scored in the third period before Ruff pulled Luukkonen for the extra attacker, setting the stage for Nedeljkovic.
“You see him take off for the bench and everyone just mauled him,” Rust said of his goalie. “It was cool.”
The Sabres, fresh off Wednesday’s 4-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes, missed a chance inch back into the playoff race. They rank last in the Eastern Conference and trail the Boston Bruins by 10 points for the final wild card spot.
