Nedeljkovic makes 37 saves, Penguins stop Islanders for 3rd straight win

PITTSBURGH -- Alex Nedeljkovic made 37 saves, and the Pittsburgh Penguins extended their point streak to six games with a 3-1 win against the New York Islanders at PPG Paints Arena on Sunday.

Lars Eller scored twice, and Noel Acciari also scored for the Penguins (18-13-4), who have won three straight, including 4-2 against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday, and are 5-0-1 in their past six.

Tristan Jarry made 25 saves against St. Louis.

“We’re going to rely on both of them,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said of the goalies. “They’re both helping us win right now. ‘Jars’ played extremely well last night. I thought ‘Ned’ played extremely well tonight. Whether or not that’s sustainable has yet to be seen.”

Samuel Bolduc scored, and Ilya Sorokin made 35 saves for the Islanders (17-10-9), who have lost two of three. They lost 7-0 at home to the Penguins on Wednesday.

"I don't know if I'd use the word frustrating. It's disappointing,” New York coach Lane Lambert said. “We played well enough to win the hockey game. I think both goalies played well. We had some real good looks and didn't get it by him, couldn't get it by him. That was the difference in the game."

Eller put Pittsburgh ahead 1-0 on its first shot on goal at 2:18 of the first period. Jansen Harkins passed behind a sliding Alexander Romanov to Eller for a wrist shot at the right post.

The goal came 24 seconds after Nedeljkovic made a glove save on a wrist shot from Casey Cizikas on a breakaway at 1:54.

"I thought we had a lot of good looks and a lot of good chances. Just have to find a way to bury them,” Cizikas said. “Overall, I thought we played a good game. It was a tight game the entire time. Their goalie made a lot of big saves to keep a lead for them. We just have to keep attacking. We just have to keep doing what we're doing.”

Nedeljkovic preserved the one-goal lead by making five saves in 10 seconds during a power play, capped off with a sprawling save on a slap shot from Brock Nelson at 12:49.

“It was a scramble,” Nedeljkovic said. “I saw the first one there and I tried to get my stick on the ice, tried to take away the bottom of the net, got lucky with that one. And followed it up top. I think we did a good job of forcing them to make that extra pass and threw a glove up.

“We did a good job taking up the net there, too. It just hit me and we found a way to clear the puck. It's just a scramble and a couple lucky plays on my part.”

Acciari made it 2-0 at 2:20 of the second period, deflecting a sharp-angle shot from Drew O'Connor in between the legs of New York defenseman Scott Mayfield.

"That first power play, I think, three or four of those saves we could've had,” Mayfield said. “Some of the ones at the end, we just didn't get the bounces. One I think bounced off my skate, I think, in front and squeaked in. We just couldn't get that on the other end.”

Bolduc cut it to 2-1 with his first goal of the season at 13:51 of the third, scoring on a snap shot from the left face-off circle after Pittsburgh forward Vinnie Hinostroza sent a loose puck off Anders Lee's skate in front.

Eller scored an empty-net goal with 43 seconds left for the 3-1 final.

"We needed a strong month of December,” Eller said. “I felt like we had it in us. We needed to tighten up a little bit of holes in our game. But like I said, now it feels like we're finding our game as a team and our identity within the team.”

NOTES: Penguins forward Sidney Crosby was in the locker room for several minutes in the second period to receive stitches after taking a stick just under his left eye from Islanders forward Mathew Barzal at 6:03. … Mayfield had two hits and one shot on goal in 17:58 of ice time in his return after missing eight games with an upper-body injury. ... Cizikas had three shots on goal in 11:41 after missing a 5-1 win against the Washington Capitals on Friday because of an illness.