After Tristan Jarry picked up a shutout in Pittsburgh’s 7-0 win over the Islanders on Wednesday at UBS Arena, Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 36 of 37 shots against that same opponent in a terrific performance, leading Pittsburgh to a 3-1 victory on Sunday at PPG Paints Arena.
“Both those guys have been great,” Noel Acciari said. “Ned could’ve had a shutout tonight, he made huge saves, especially early on… Jars shutting these guys out right after Christmas and then following that up with a great game against St. Louis, it’s been great.”
Lars Eller scored twice and Acciari got the game-winner for the Penguins, who have won three in a row coming out of the holiday break, after a 4-2 win over the Blues on Saturday night. The Penguins now have points in eight of their last nine (7-1-1).
“I think it just feels like the whole team is getting a little more traction,” Eller said. “Our best players have been our best players all year, but we need everybody to chip in. Tonight, we chipped in with a couple of goals, and Ned was huge in net. So, that’s what we need. We need everybody to give something.”
Nedeljkovic was the star of the show in the first period of play, as the Islanders generated a number of quality chances. He came up with a breakaway stop just over two minutes in and played the puck right after, with the Penguins going the other way and Jansen Harkins earning his second assist in as many games on Eller’s first tally. Nedeljkovic was also lights out during a penalty kill, battling and coming up with save after save despite losing his helmet at one point.
After Nedeljkovic had a terrific first year in the NHL with Carolina during the 2020-21 campaign, being named a finalist for the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie, the last two seasons had been bumpy for the goaltender. After signing with Pittsburgh in the summer, Nedeljkovic said he wanted to “get my feet back underneath me, get some confidence again, and prove that I can play at this level.”
He's done just that, earning the Penguins points in his last six consecutive starts, going 5-0-1 since Dec. 4. Nedeljkovic has gone 7-2-1 this season, and as for what’s helped him succeed, the 27-year-old netminder said “just worrying about myself, not worrying about what I can’t control and worrying about the things I can control, like coming to the rink every day with a good attitude, a good mindset, working hard. Just trying to do the little things honestly, and then the rest kind of follows.”
Nedeljkovic was less busy in the second period, as the Penguins had momentum following an early power play that had carried over from the first. They had a ton of shots on that man-advantage, and shortly after the teams returned to 5-on-5 play, Acciari got his third of the year to put Pittsburgh up 2-0.
Both teams battled in the third, and the Islanders were able to get within one with 6:09 remaining. But Eller was able to seal the victory with an empty-netter.
“I give the players a lot of credit. I couldn't be more proud of them the last couple of nights here, just our compete level and how invested we are in trying to win,” Head Coach Mike Sullivan said. “And listen, we're playing some pretty good teams, so we're going to have to we're going to have to have this level of urgency night in and night out. I think a lot of it starts with just that commitment to some of these little things we're talking about that, in our mind, add up to win hockey games.”
