Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan recently paid goalie Alex Nedeljkovic a notable compliment about his play of late.
“He’s making timely saves for us,” Sullivan said. “He’s had a strong impact on the wins we’ve been able to get here most recently.”
Nedeljkovic has certainly seemed to stabilize his game recently.
From Jan. 17 to Feb. 4, spanning seven starts, the Penguins with Nedeljkovic in net went 4-2-1, during which time he managed a .937 save percentage, stopping 204 of 217 shots.
Nedeljkovic’s clutch play was on display in the closing seconds of overtime Tuesday against New Jersey, when Devils star Jack Hughes received a pass all alone on a breakaway attempt.
The 23-year-old Devils alternate captain fired off a clean, short-range shot with under four seconds to go in the extra period. But Nedeljkovic said no, making his 21st save of the night.
The Devils went on to triumph in the shootout, but the Penguins at least got a point out of the game.
While Nedeljkovic deserves credit for putting together better efforts of late, he admitted that shootouts remain a needed area of improvement.
Shootout struggles
As of Wednesday, the Penguins were tied with the Philadelphia Flyers for games going to shootouts this season (six).
The Penguins have not fared well, going 1-5.
Nedeljkovic has been in net for four of those shootouts and has faced an NHL-most 21 shots, of which he’s stopped 12.
The nine shootout goals he has let up also lead the league.
By comparison, Tristan Jarry, in net for the Penguins’ other two shootout appearances, fared even worse, allowing four goals on six shots.
A team-wide weakness
In Nedeljkovic’s defense, the rest of the team has not exactly pulled its own weight, being outscored 27-13 in shootouts.
Sullivan has used nine players in a shootout: Sidney Crosby (six shots), Rickard Rakell (five), Bryan Rust (four), Kris Letang (three), Anthony Beauvillier and Evgeni Malkin (two) plus Kevin Hayes, Cody Glass and Lars Eller (one).
Of that bunch, Beauvillier has been the most successful despite only two attempts, both of which he’s converted.
Malkin is 1 of 2, and Rakell is next-best (2 of 5). Rust has made 1 of 4 tries, while Crosby, owner of a 38.7% (46 of 119) lifetime shootout success rate, has gone only 1 for 6 this season.
Nedeljkovic owns up
Most recently against New Jersey, Nedeljkovic kept the Penguins alive for six rounds, stopping the first four of six shots he faced.
But after a failed try by Glass, the Devils’ seventh attempt, by Timo Meier, got through Nedeljkovic, sending New Jersey home with two points.
After the game, Nedeljkovic reflected on his .571 shootout save percentage this season.
“It’s just me vs. whoever,” he said. “It’s just me. It sucks. There’s been five or six maybe extra points that we have thrown away, just like given away because I haven’t been very good in a shootout, quite frankly. I think we have the one win we have in a shootout was against San Jose (on Nov. 16), and I still gave up, I think, two or three in that one.”
Nedeljkovic also refused to assign blame to anyone but himself.
“Guys are doing an unbelievable job of putting the puck in the net. … I’m just not getting the job done right now.”
Shot stoppers
Here is a look at the best and worst shootout goalies in the NHL this season (minimum two shootouts):
Best save percentage
Elvis Merzlikins, CBJ .889
Sergei Bobrovsky, FLA .857
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, BUF .857
Jordan Binnington, STL .833
Jake Oettinger, DAL .800
Spencer Knight, FLA .800
Worst save percentage
Mackenzie Blackwood, COL .273
Tristan Jarry, PIT .333
Joey Daccord, SEA .429
Charlie Lindgren, WSH. 500
Alex Nedeljkovic, PIT .571