28895906_Pittsburgh_Penguins_v_Utah_Hockey_Club_Andrew_Taylor_(Greenfly)_20250130_054515

The Pittsburgh Penguins’ longest road trip since 1997 is now officially in the books. Thanks in large part to the efforts of two players who carried the way throughout the 14-day journey, the Penguins were able escape their first-ever visit to Salt Lake City with a dramatic 3-2 come-from-behind overtime win against Utah Hockey Club.

Captain Sidney Crosby ensured his team would enjoy a happy four-hour return flight to Pittsburgh by scoring a sensational overtime goal. Goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic was stellar once again, stopping 27 of 29 shots.

“Huge. Huge. I mean, we needed the two points tonight,” Nedeljkoviic said. “One wasn't going to be good enough, and we know it. We know where we are. So, we need two points every night here going forward. Tonight was the first step. It makes tomorrow's flight home a lot easier to sit through.”

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      Nedeljkovic speaks to the media

      The Penguins are obviously used to Crosby’s offensive exploits – Wednesday’s marker was his third-straight game scoring, and his fourth goal in five games. But if the Penguins wanted to get back in the win column, they were going to need more than just a Crosby goal. Three goals and three losses in their previous three contests – with two of those goals from Crosby – said as much.

      Thankfully for Pittsburgh, blueliners Marcus Pettersson and Erik Karlsson stepped up in a huge way, scoring first and third-period goals, respectively, to provide Crosby the chance to toss on the hero’s cape.

      How big were Pettersson and Karlsson’s goals? Their tallies ended a stretch of 11-straight games without a goal by a Pittsburgh blueliner. The last time a Penguins defenseman scored prior to Wednesday was Karlsson’s goal back on Jan. 5 in Carolina.

      Much like their contest 48 hours prior in San Jose, the Pens fell behind by scores of 1-0 and 2-1 in another evenly-matched contest. This time, Karlsson made sure the script was flipped, and a third-period push wasn’t wasted by ripping a shot top corner short side over the shoulder of Connor Ingram on a brilliant solo rush, to equal the score at 2-2 at 6:17 of the third period

      “I think we’ve tried to put a little bit more of an emphasis on getting pucks through from the point, even a little bit quicker, and I think tonight guys did a great job,” said Nedeljkovic of his blueliners. “Puck was on and off their sticks, whether we had guys at the net front or crashing the net front, I think it was good to see. … Petey puts one in play, a bomb from the point, Karl activating the initial rush. The puck comes back out, we play fast, the puck comes back to him and he’s going to do his thing. He’s got an unbelievable shot. It’s nice to see those guys get rewarded.”

      Continuing the theme of offense from the back end, when Pettersson scored in the first period, Matt Grzelcyk had the second helper, giving him a career-high 27 points on the season.

      Taking advantage of his fifth start in seven games, Nedeljkovic remained one of the major storylines of the trip by bookending the cross-country journey with another quality start. ‘Ned’ finished the road trip by making 147 saves on 158 shots for an exceptional .930 save percentage. He stopped 90 percent of the shots in four of the five starts.

      “(Nedeljkovic’s) played pretty well, and again tonight, kept us in the game,” Crosby said. “Especially (in) overtime (and) late there, they had a couple really good looks. He was steady for us and allowed us to find a way to get a win."

      "I think (Nedeljkovic’s) played extremely well,” added Sullivan just minutes after Crosby’s praise. “He's made timely saves at key times that give us a chance to win. You can look at some of the games that were played here most recently, and when you evaluate it, you can say that coming out of most of the games. And so, that's what we're asking of our goaltenders. He just battles. He competes. I think to a certain extent sometimes, his personality, I think it's contagious with our guys."

      The Penguins will aim to make winning contagious, as they have four games before the upcoming two-week Four Nations break. Pittsburgh hosts Nashville on Saturday night, and the divisional-rival New Jersey Devils on Feb. 4 before a back-to-back road trip against the New York Rangers and Philadelphia.

      "I think there's probably.a couple games that could have probably went the other way for us. Probably could have got another win or two. But, almost .500, and hopefully we can bring some of the momentum back home,” Crosby said. “But it's good to finish the trip off with a win and a big finish here before the break."

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          Crosby speaks to the media

          NOTES

          * Pittsburgh welcomed a couple of familiar faces back into the lineup on Wednesday. Jesse Puljujarvi drew back into the lineup for the first time since he was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Jan. 27. Blake Lizotte, who sat out the previous three games due to illness, and P.O Joseph, who was out the past two games, also returned. The trio replaced Matt Nieto, Phil Tomasino and Ryan Shea.

          * Utah Hockey Club forward and West Mifflin, Pa. native Logan Cooley continued his run of success against his hometown team. Cooley, Utah’s second-leading scorer, helped set up Mikhail Sergachev’s opening goal. That helper gave Cooley assists in three-straight games (4 total) against Pittsburgh. He nearly notched his first goal against the Pens when he baseball-batted a re-direction of his own shot late in the second period back into Nedeljkovic.