PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Often coaches will pull goalies, sometimes not as much because of their performance, rather to change momentum. Not often it works because the goalie gets ticked off and breaks his stick on the ice while yelling on the way to the bench.
Thursday night, the Pens needed a spark. Goalie Alex Nedeljkovic provided it as they came back from three down to beat Philadelphia 5-4 in overtime.
“I have no problem with Ned’s reaction, to me that’s just an indication of how invested he is,” said Pens head coach Mike Sullivan. “He cares.
He’s competitive. He wants to win. That’s raw emotion and I have no problem with that.”
“Quite honestly I thought he inspired the group to want to compete for him. I thought our team responded and I thought Ned was a big part of it.”
The 29-year-old Nedeljkovic was unavailable for comment after the game.
“His reaction,” said forward Evgeni Malkin. “We understand. We are not happy too. I’m mad too, we didn’t help him.”
Following a rough return after the Four Nations Face-Off, a bit of a sense of humor after the Pens first win in 20 days.
“I’m glad I didn’t break my stick because I scored two goals after,” Malkin said.
Malkin scored the goal to tie it in the third period and the game-winner early into overtime (14th career overtime goal). It’s Malkin’s first multi-goal game of the season and first since April 6 of last year.
“Geno puts a lot of pressure on himself to produce,” Sullivan said. “When he doesn’t, nobody feels it more than G. He’s another guy that cares a lot about what is going on with the Penguins and he wants to do his part to help us win. A night like tonight, he gets two goals and two assists. He was a big part of the offense. We are hoping he can use that to generate momentum moving forward with his own personal game.”
“We are down three goals,” Malkin said. “I’m glad we are back. This is the team. We fight, score a couple of goals and we believe we could chance momentum and win the game. Lots of emotion for me. I hope this gives me confidence, gives confidence to the team.”
Blomqvist spark?
Goalie Joel Blomqvist said he didn’t see Nedeljkovic’s reaction as he was gathering his equipment and his mind to enter a 3-0 Philly lead after a 6-1 Philly win Tuesday. Blomqvist would stop 21 of 22 shots for arguably the best performance of his career next to stopping 32 shots against the Caps on November 8.
“He looked big in there,” Sullivan said. “He’s an athletic guy. He made some big saves for us, as did Ned. This was without a doubt a step forward for Blommer. It’s certainly encouraging, what we saw from him tonight.”
“It means a lot for the whole team,” Blomqvist said. “Today wasn’t pretty, but we found a way. Just getting more game feel is valuable and it’s good to learn from.”
Another multi-goal
It had been since November 11, 2023 against Buffalo that Erik Karlsson had a pair of games in one game.
“I thought he was playing the game on his toes,” Sullivan said. “He did a great job on the offensive blue line just managing his gaps and keeping pucks alive. When he got the puck up top at the blue line, I thought he did a great job of creating shot lanes. I just thought he did a great job with his decision-making and his execution.
1st point
Defenseman Ryan Graves assisted on the Malkin game-tying goal. It was his first point of the season and first since March 17, 2024.
Red hot
23-year-old forward Philip Tomasino scored the Pens first goal. His fourth in the last eight games. He now has 17 points in 32 career games with the Pens after being acquired from Nashville in November.
Weekend matinee
Pens are home to Boston and Toronto for afternoon games this weekend.
“Use momentum, have fun, try to win the next 20 games,” Malkin said. “We still have a great team. I believe in these guys. Just play hard every night.”