Nedeljkovic First Goalie Ever to Get Goal and Assist in a Game

Alex Nedeljkovic may not have gotten a Gordie Howe hat trick on Friday in Buffalo, just missing the fight portion. But his unique accomplishment that night should perhaps be named after him moving forward.

Nedeljkovic became the first goalie in NHL history to score a goal - his first at this level - and get an assist in the same game, while also making 40 saves in Pittsburgh’s 5-2 win over the Sabres. When that feat was brought up to the netminder on the team plane, his teammates began chanting his name: “NED! NED! NED!”

They had done that in the locker room, too, following a group photo to commemorate the achievement, which came with 2:42 remaining in regulation and Buffalo’s goalie pulled for the extra attacker.

Nedeljkovic got the puck behind the net, had to sort of spin around, “and I just – I let it go. I didn't know at first if it was online. 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 till it was probably, like, maybe at the far blue. And at that point, I saw it was online, but I didn't know if 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 Karl [Erik Karlsson] had his arms in the air, and I was like, ‘ooh, this is gonna go in.’ So, yeah, then just straight beeline for the bench after.”

Marcus Pettersson mentioned how much he loved the celebration, with Bryan Rust saying, “it was pretty extra, but I feel like in that situation, it needs to be extra... everyone mauled him. It’s cool. It’s awesome. I love that (stuff).”

Nedeljkovic said he knew he was going to go down the line and give everyone high fives, but everything else was in the moment.

“It's a team game, and we're all really close in here. Everybody's rooting for each other to score, and you see it every time somebody scores – it's all five guys on the ice, the other four guys are happy for him, everybody on the bench is jumping up,” Nedeljkovic said. “It’s exciting. So, it's nice to receive some of that excitement on my end. Maybe I pushed it a little too far with jumping into the bench there [laughs] but it’s my first goal, what do you expect?”

It’s his fourth career professional goal, with Nedeljkovic previously scoring twice in the American Hockey League and once in the ECHL. But doing it at this level is something truly special, and prior to tonight, Nedeljkovic said he only had about one or two legitimate chances to even try.

“I've wanted to do it for a long time, and to be able to have the opportunity to do it... it was nice to bury it,” said Nedeljkovic, now the first goalie ever to score at all three levels of professional hockey.

Especially since Nedeljkovic has always enjoyed playing the puck, and it’s been part of his game for as long as he can remember, which stemmed from conversations in the car with his dad Butch.

“He was always 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. Don't just do it. If you're going to do it, at least try to do something with it,’” said Alex, who watched and learned from the likes of Martin Brodeur and Marty Turco, some of the best to ever do it when it comes to puck handling.

Nedeljkovic rattled off some of the goals he remembers seeing, starting with Brodeur and mentioning Ron Hextall (“he's got two, one in the playoffs and then one in regular season”); Mike Smith; Chris Osgood; “Jars (Tristan Jarry) last year was really exciting to be a part of. Then you see the other guys around the league. (Filip) Gustafsson did it earlier this year, (Linus) Ullmark the year before or maybe last year...”

So yeah, Nedeljkovic knows the history – and now, he’s part of it.

“Super happy for him. That really sealed the deal for us,” Rickard Rakell said.

It capped off a night where Nedeljkovic stepped up with an inspiring performance in the aftermath of Tristan Jarry being placed on waivers, with the helper coming on a goal from Cody Glass as part of a strong second period

“He was spectacular all night. I thought he made some huge saves throughout the course of the game,” head coach Mike Sullivan said. 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.”

“He played great for us in every area of the game,” Rakell said. “They had a lot of good looks, and he saved us there, then a couple points for him. Nice to see.”