Nedeljkovic steps up, sparks Penguins playoff push

WASHINGTON -- Asked about his role in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ late-season push back into the Stanley Cup Playoff race in the Eastern Conference, Alex Nedeljkovic immediately deflected it onto his teammates like he’s been turning away shots the past two weeks.

“The guys in front of me,” the Penguins goalie said after making 30 saves in a 4-1 win against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on Thursday. “The guys in front of me this whole trip have been incredible.”

It could not have been a better trip for the Pittsburgh (35-30-11), which won three road games in four days against the New York Rangers (5-2 on Monday), New Jersey Devils (6-3 on Tuesday) and the Capitals to climb within two points of the New York Islanders for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. The Penguins are one point behind the Capitals (36-29-10), who dropped out of the second wild card, one point behind the Islanders (4-2 winners against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday), after their fourth straight loss (0-3-1).

Pittsburgh, which began the week seven points behind Washington, is headed in the other direction with points in seven straight games (5-0-2). Usually the Penguins backup behind Tristan Jarry, Nedeljkovic started all seven games, compiling 2.31 goals-against average and .923 save percentage to help drive the push that might prevent them from missing the playoffs for the second straight season.

The Penguins stars such as Sidney Crosby, who had 15 points (six goals, nine assists) during a six-game point streak that ended Thursday, Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust have been doing a lot of the heavy lifting and grabbing the headlines, but Nedeljkovic’s contributions have been just as important.

“'Ned's' been phenomenal,” Rust said. “You can see how calm and confident he is in the net. I think that’s kind of going through the net on out kind of throughout our lineup.”

Nedeljkovic’s calming presence and puck-handling skill, which helps diffuse opponent’s forechecks, have proven to be valuable ingredients for the Penguins at a time when they needed it most. Nedeljkovic signed a one-year, $1.5 million contract with Pittsburgh on July 1 to back up Jarry, who signed a five-year, $26.875 million contract ($5.375 million average annual value) that same day.

Nedeljkovic has handled his role well all season (15-6-6, 2.78 GAA, .908 save percentage, one shutout). But the 28-year-old has elevated his game since being pressed into more starts because of Jarry’s struggles in the second half of the season (7-12-1 with a 3.47 GAA, .887 save percentage, one shutout since Jan. 20) and an illness that prevented Jarry from dressing for the first two games of this trip.

“Ned’s played extremely well,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said Thursday morning. “At this point, we think he’s deserving of being in the net.”

Nedeljkovic demonstrated that again Thursday in the Penguins’ biggest game of the season -- until their next big one at home against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday (1 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, SN).

Pittsburgh staked him to a 3-0 lead through two periods, scoring on its first two shots on goal -- seeing-eye left point shots from defensemen Ryan Shea at 1:49 and Pierre-Olivier Joseph at 11:03 of the first -- and Michael Bunting’s left-circle shot that made it 3-0 at 9:08 of the second period.

Nedeljkovic fended off some scrambles around the Penguins net in the first period and made some good saves in the second, including a glove stop on Alex Ovechkin off a left circle face-off play at 5:31. But his biggest test came in the third period when the Capitals threw 17 shots at him, including seven from Ovechkin.

Nedeljkovic got them all but Ovechkin’s power-play goal at 6:02 of the third that brought Washington within 3-1 before Lars Eller’s clinching empty-net goal with 2:37 left. Ovechkin’s goal came at the end of overlapping Capitals power plays, including a 5-on-3 for 1:53.

Nedeljkovic almost stopped that one, sliding over to get a piece of Ovechkin’s shot from the left side of the crease with his right arm before it went into the net.

Nedeljkovic still blamed himself for not cutting off Sonny Milano’s pass through the crease to Ovechkin.

“I almost [got it], but it probably didn't need to happen,” he said. “Could've done something a little bit better. But the guys did an unbelievable job of just battling and getting through that and not giving them anything.”

If Nedeljkovic didn’t want to take credit, his teammates were happy to give it to him.

“There's been nights where he's probably been tested more than we'd like to test him, but he's been great for us and really solid,” Crosby said. “Hopefully we can keep helping in front of him, but I thought again tonight he made some big saves throughout the night.”

The Penguins still have work to do in their final six regular-season games to complete this improbable run and get back to the playoffs. And it appears they’ll continue to rely on Nedeljkovic for as far as he can take them.

Now in his seventh NHL season, Nedeljkovic was a No. 1 goalie with the Detroit Red Wings (another team the Penguins trail by one point in the crowded East race) when he made 52 starts in 2021-22 on a team that missed the playoffs by 26 points.

Now, he’s getting a chance to carry the goaltending load during a playoff push and making the most of it.

“The job's not done,” Nedeljkovic said. “Unbelievable road trip, but we have to go home now, and we've got, obviously, a really good Tampa team coming to town and they're fighting for points too and they're hitting their stride as well. So, we've got a long way to go still.”