BUFFALO, N.Y. — Alex Nedeljkovic became the first goalie in NHL history to have a goal and an assist, and made 40 saves as the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-2 on Friday night.
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. The 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.
Last season, Nedeljkovic scored for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins during a rehab stint in the AHL. Nedeljkovic now has four career goals as a pro and is the only goalie in history to score in the NHL, AHL (twice) and ECHL.
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.
Buffalo’s penalty kill,, which came in 22 for 25 over the last 10 games, went 1 for 4 against the Penguins.
Pittsburgh pulled three points behind Boston for the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.
HURRICANES 3, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 2
RALEIGH, N.C. — Seth Jarvis scored in the second and third periods to help Carolina beat Vegas.
Jarvis had a clean-up goal from the top of the crease for his first score, then finished off a two-on-one chance at the 6:09 mark of the third.
Jackson Blake also scored in the third off the stick of Vegas defenseman Noah Hanifin, helping the Hurricanes score three straight goals after falling behind 1-0. Pyotr Kochetkov withstood a stream of first-period shots before finishing with 29 saves for Carolina, including a stop on Keegan Kolesar’s second-period penalty shot to deny Vegas a 2-0 lead.
Tomas Hertl scored early in the second to give the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead. Shea Theodore added a power-play goal with teammate Mark Stone screening Kochetkov at the top of the crease, bringing Vegas within 3-2 midway through the third.
Adin Hill finished with 25 saves for Vegas.