Nedeljkovic's 37 saves the difference in win over Islanders

Lars Eller said after the Penguins' 3-1 win over the Islanders on Sunday that their goaltenders Tristan Jarry and Alex Nedeljkovic are their "best players most nights, when we win."

That was arguably the case Saturday, when Jarry bailed out his teammates on a number of occasions to preserve the lead in a close 4-2 win. That was definitely the case here at PPG Paints Arena tonight, as Nedeljkovic stopped 37 of 38 shots faced to carry the Penguins past the Islanders and earn a crucial two points in the standings against a divisional opponent.

Nedeljkovic was tested often and early. His brightest moment came in the first period, as the Penguins worked to kill off a Sidney Crosby tripping minor taken 11:31 into the game. Nedeljkovic made easy work of a one-timer from Brock Nelson, then did so once more five seconds later. Chaos ensued in the crease as Islanders players fought for the rebound, and Nedeljkovic made a stick save to keep the puck out, but mask became loose in the process. That didn't stop him from diving to stop a third Nelson one-timer from the same spot:

"That was a scramble," Nedeljkovic said of that moment after the game. "I saw the first one there, and I just tried to get my stick on the ice to take away the bottom of the net. I got lucky with that one, then followed it up top. I think we did a good job of trying to force them to make that extra pass and just threw a glove up. We did a good job taking up net there too, and it just hit me. Then we found a way to clear it quick, just a scramble."

Another highlight-reel moment came in the third period, when a puck got past Nedeljkovic and was inches from the goal line. He had the awareness to fall back onto the puck and lay flat, freezing it before it trickled over:

"I kind of misplayed it a little bit," Nedeljkovic said of that one. "The puck kept bouncing around, I felt it squeak through me a little bit. I was just hopefully trying to fall on top of it."

It took a bouncing puck late in the game to finally beat Nedeljkovic, with defenseman Samuel Bolduc getting the lone goal for the Islanders on their 35th shot of the game:

Bolduc's goal made it a 2-1 game, after the Penguins got contributions from Eller and Noel Acciari earlier in the game. A late empty-net goal from Eller regained the two-goal lead and put the game away.

Nedeljkovic finished the night with a .974 save percentage. The 38 shots faced tied his mark for the second-most shots faced in a game this season, rivaled by only his 39-save performance on 42 shots in the Penguins' shootout win in Montreal earlier this month.

It was the latest in a string of strong showings from Nedeljkovic. His .924 save percentage is tied for third in the entire league among goaltenders with at least 10 games played this season. His 2.49 goals-against average ranks 11th, right behind Jarry's 2.47.

Nedeljkovic credits his play this season to just focusing on himself and controlling what he can control.

"Like coming to the rink every day with a good attitude and good mindset," he said. "Working hard just trying to do the little things, honestly. The rest kind of follows. (Goaltending coach) Andy Chiodo has been awesome, too. He's been great. Ever since the summertime, just everything's been very positive, very constructive. We hit the ground running once training camp came and we really haven't looked back. It's been great.

Nedeljkovic's performance also raises the Penguins' team save percentage -- meaning combined from Jarry's 24 appearances, Nedeljkovic's 11, and Magnus Hellberg's three -- to .915. That's the second-best team save percentage in the league, trailing only the Bruins' .919. Other teams have good No. 1 goaltenders. Few teams have a tandem as good as the Penguins do. 

"All year, it's been great," Nedeljkovic said of the contributions the team has gotten from all three goaltenders. "I think as we've gone on too, we've gotten better defensively in our own end and have been a little bit more responsible playing in the high ice in the offensive zone. It's led to less turnovers and less odd-man rushes which, makes it easy to defend when you're not giving up so many Grade-A chances."

Nedeljkovic playing the way he has been creates competition and pushes Jarry to be better, which was the goal all along when Kyle Dubas was building out his goaltending depth this summer. There's no "controversy" when it comes to a No. 1. Both goaltenders are going to be leaned on heavily as the Penguins get into the second half of the season??//////. They're going to be battling for playing time, sure. But Jarry and Nedeljkovic have a great relationship and like the competition the current situation breeds.

"They're both helping us win right now," Mike Sullivan said. "Jars played extremely well last night. I thought Ned played extremely well tonight. Whether or not that's sustainable is yet to be seen. What I will say is I think our team has competed hard in front of them. ... I thought Ned made a couple of key saves tonight. On our penalty-kill early in the game, they had a couple of high quality looks. I thought he made some big saves down the stretch. I thought Jars did the same thing for us last night."

That goaltending the Penguins have gotten as of late is one of the big reasons they have been able to pull within a point shy of a playoff spot with (three games in hand) after such a slow start to the season. They'll need it to continue if they want to keep closing the gap on the top teams in the division.

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule

THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE THREE STARS

As selected at PPG Paints Arena:

1. Alex Nedeljkovic, Penguins G
2. Lars Eller, Penguins C
3. Noel Acciari, Penguins C

THE IN-GAME INJURIES

• Penguins: Sidney Crosby took a stick to the face in the second period and missed a handful of shifts but returned after getting stitched up under his left eye,

• Islanders: None

THE LINEUPS

Sullivan’s lines and pairings:

Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Rickard Rakell
Reilly Smith - Evgeni Malkin - Drew O'Connor
Radim Zohorna - Lars Eller - Valtteri Puustinen
Jansen Harkins - Noel Acciari - Jeff Carter

Marcus Pettersson - Kris Letang
Ryan Graves - Erik Karlsson
John Ludvig - Chad Ruhwedel

And for Lane Lambert's Islanders:

Anders Lee - Bo Horvat - Mathew Barzal
Hudson Fasching - Brock Nelson - Kyle Palmieri
Simon Holmstrom - Jean-Gabriel Pageau - Julien Gauthier
Matt Martin - Casey Cizikas - Cal Clutterbuck

Alexander Romanov - Noah Dobson
Samuel Bolduc - Scott Mayfield
Mike Reilly - Sebastian Aho

THE SCHEDULE

The Penguins have a scheduled day off on Monday. They'll open 2024 with a 7:30 p.m. game against the Capitals at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday.

THE FEED

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