Alex Nedeljkovic isn't one to get too rattled. I can't remember ever seeing him legitimately angry.

He got angry on Thursday, though.

Nedeljkovic was pulled in the second period of Thursday's 5-4 overtime win over the Flyers after allowing three goals on 15 shots. The nail in the coffin was Matvei Michkov's first goal of the game -- Rasmus Ristolainen banked a shot off the end boards, and Nedeljkovic slid out of his net in anticipation of saving it. But Michkov was at the side of the cage, and picked the puck off the boards and put it in to make it a 3-0 game.

That was it. Mike Sullivan signaled for Joel Blomqvist to get ready. When Nedeljkovic saw Blomqvist leave the bench, he spun around and swung his stick over the crossbar and snapped it. He chucked the pieces of the stick clear across the Penguins' end, hitting the glass to his left. When he made it to the bench, he wound up and slammed the bench door with all of his strength, before turning to his side and yelling down the bench.

Nedeljkovic briefly went down the tunnel to cool off, then took his place on the chair next to the Penguins' bench.

The goal that chased Nedeljkovic was a tough one. But the first two were deflections off Vincent Desharnais and then Ryan Shea. He didn't play poorly enough to get yanked. And that's not why Sullivan did it.

"The decision to pull Ned wasn't so much performance based," Sullivan told me. "That was to try to change some momentum in the game."

Well, it worked. Phil Tomasino got the Penguins on the board just over two minutes later, and Erik Karlsson made it a one-goal game 30 seconds after Tomasino's tally. The Flyers added a power-play goal midway through the period, but Karlsson netted another late in the second to bring the Penguins back within one.

Evgeni Malkin scored an early third-period goal to tie the game, and both teams held on to force overtime. It only took Malkin 63 seconds into the extra frame to complete the comeback, getting a 2-on-1 with Kris Letang before slamming on the brakes in front of the net and snapping a shot past Samuel Ersson.

Blomqvist did well too, stopping 21 of 22 shots in relief, including 14 in the third period when the Flyers were pushing to regain the lead. 

But the spark behind the comeback went beyond Blomqvist playing well, or change for the sake of change driving momentum. It was that outburst from Nedeljkovic -- the passion and anger he showed -- that was a real force in turning the game around.

"We were all frustrated," Tomasino said of that moment. "But honestly, looking back at it, (Nedeljkovic's outburst) probably motivated our group a little bit. He gave us a wakeup call too, it was needed. We left him out to dry. ... Had to get that one back for Ned, for sure."

Yeah, Nedeljkovic hasn't been great since coming out of the 4 Nations break. But this wasn't that. It took the Penguins just shy of 15 minutes to record their first shot on goal. The Flyers dominated early, and Nedeljkovic did well to keep the Penguins within striking distance, despite a pair of goals going in off the defensemen in front of him. 

Nedeljkovic wasn't made available to speak with reporters after the game. But if I had to guess, part of the reason for his anger was that he didn't actually deserve to be pulled, even as the team trailed by three. That anger reinforced the message for the teammates in front of him: They did this to him.

"We let him down to start the game," Ryan Graves told me. "I understand the emotion -- we all have it at times, you just don't see it from us because we're not in the middle of the ice. It's what feeds our ambition to play. We let Ned down, and he's frustrated with it. I'm sure he's frustrated with us and with himself, and rightfully so to be frustrated with us. We let him down, and he's battled for us all year. We needed a better effort for him."

Malkin -- no stranger to emotional outbursts at times -- totally understood why Nedeljkovic reacted the way he did.

"This was for the whole team," he said. "He's not happy, and we're not happy too. I'm glad I didn't break my stick, because I scored two goals after (laughs). But I was mad too, because we understand we not help him."

When Nedeljkovic made it to the bench and started yelling, it wasn't evident who he was yelling at, and nobody who was close enough to hear him clearly wanted to divulge what was said. He could have been yelling at his teammates, he could have been yelling at Sullivan over the decision. It's not clear. 

It also doesn't really matter -- even if some of Nedeljkovic's anger was directed toward Sullivan, Sullivan loved what Nedeljkovic showed there.

"For me, that's just an indication of how invested he is," Sullivan said. "He cares. He's competitive. He wants to win. That's raw emotion, and I have no problem with that. Quite honestly, I thought he inspired the group to want to compete for him. I thought our team responded, and I think Ned was big part of it."