NHL

Pittsburgh Penguins at Buffalo Sabres

· National Hockey League
Final
5 - 2

Nedeljkovic becomes 1st goalie with goal and assist, and has 40 saves as Penguins beat Sabres 5-2

Goalie goal! Pens' Nedeljkovic mobbed in celebration

Rickard Rakell, Anthony Beauvillier, Cody Glass, and Bryan Rust also scored for Pittsburgh who ended a three-game losing streak.

Owen Power and Zach Benson scored for Buffalo and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 14 saves. The Sabres lost for the 18th time in 24 games (6-14-4).

Nedeljkovic’s win comes a day after former Penguins starter Tristan Jarry cleared waivers and was sent to the AHL.

Nedeljkovic had a secondary assist on Glass' goal with 8:17 left in the second period that gave the Penguins a 3-1 lead. He then scored when he sent the puck from behind the net down the ice and into an empty net with 2:42 left in the third.

Power opened the scoring with a power play goal with 4:14 to go in the first period.

Rakell and Beauvillier scored 27 seconds apart early in the second to give the Penguins a 2-1 lead, and Rust made it 4-1 at 1:09 of the third.

Benson cut the lead to 4-2 with 5:14 to play.

Takeaways Sabres: Buffalo’s penalty kill,, which came in 22 for 25 over the last 10 games, went 1 for 4 against the Penguins.

Penguins: Pittsburgh pulled three points behind Boston for the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.

Key moment Nedeljkovic’s first NHL goal came when he handled the puck behind his own net and floated the puck the length of the ice into the empty net.

Key stat Nedeljkovic’s goal made him the 16th goalie in NHL history to score. Minnesota’s Filip Gustavsson was the last to do it on Oct. 15 against St. Louis.

Up Next Sabres visit Seattle on Monday to open a four-game trip, and Penguins play at Washington on Saturday.

Regular Season Series

PIT leads series 2-0

Scoring Summary

Goal 1st Period 15:16 Owen Power Goal (6) Wrist Shot, assists: Zach Benson (8), Bowen Byram (18)
Goal 2nd Period 1:41 Rickard Rakell Goal (23) Snap Shot, assists: Bryan Rust (18), Matt Grzelcyk (22)
Goal 2nd Period 2:08 Anthony Beauvillier Goal (10) Snap Shot, assists: Cody Glass (9)
Goal 2nd Period 11:43 Cody Glass Goal (2) Snap Shot, assists: Philip Tomasino (5), Alex Nedeljkovic (1)
Goal 3rd Period 1:09 Bryan Rust Goal (18) Wrist Shot, assists: Matt Grzelcyk (23), Michael Bunting (13)
Goal 3rd Period 14:46 Zach Benson Goal (8) Wrist Shot, assists: Tage Thompson (17), Alex Tuch (19)
Goal 3rd Period 17:18 Alex Nedeljkovic Goal (1) Wrist Shot, assists: none

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/pit.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originPIT https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/buf.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originBUF
17 Blocked Shots 14
21 Hits 19
6 Takeaways 1
19 Shots 42
3 Power Play Goals 1
4 Power Play Opportunities 5
75.0 Power Play Percentage 20.0
0 Short Handed Goals 0
0 Shootout Goals 0
32 Faceoffs Won 26
55.2 Faceoff Win Percent 44.8
12 Giveaways 9
6 Total Penalties 6
22 Penalty Minutes 20

Game Information

KeyBank Center

Location: Buffalo, NY
Attendance: 19,070 | Capacity:

2024-25 Metropolitan Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Washington 5 10 65 30
New Jersey 6 15 58 26
Carolina 3 16 57 27
Columbus 6 17 50 22
Philadelphia 6 20 46 20
Pittsburgh 8 20 46 19
NY Rangers 3 20 45 21
NY Islanders 7 20 41 17

2024-25 Atlantic Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Toronto 2 16 58 28
Florida 3 17 55 26
Tampa Bay 3 16 51 24
Boston 5 19 49 22
Ottawa 4 18 48 22
Montreal 4 18 48 22
Detroit 4 19 46 21
Buffalo 5 23 39 17
Full Standings