Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Alex Nedeljkovic was a major architect of his club managing to go 7-0-3 over his last 10 starts, during which time qualifying for the postseason went from pipe dream to probable.
He was far from perfect but largely did enough to give the Penguins a chance to win every night.
Nedeljkovic made his 11th straight start Saturday with the Presidents’ Trophy-hunting Boston Bruins visiting PPG Paints Arena.
Unfortunately for the Penguins, Nedeljkovic’s solid run came to an end as he allowed three second-period goals — two of which came 14 seconds apart — prompting coach Mike Sullivan to insert Tristan Jarry at 11:40.
“(Nedeljkovic) has given us some great hockey here,” Sullivan said. “He’s battling hard for us. The decision I made was based on just trying to change momentum for our group, see if it could give us a jolt. It was more about that than anything.”
But Jarry then allowed a short-handed goal on the first shot he faced and one more in the third period of an eventual 6-4 loss.
Across the Eastern Conference, the Detroit Red Wings, Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals accrued two points Saturday, jumping the Penguins in the standings and knocking them out of playoff position.
On the heels of unappetizing play by both his goalies, coupled with the Penguins now not controlling their playoff destiny, Sullivan has a major decision to make ahead of Monday’s ultra-important home game against the Nashville Predators, the penultimate contest of the regular season: start Nedeljkovic or Jarry.
However, Sullivan was hesitant to leave Saturday’s loss on his goalies’ doorstep.
“I thought we gave (Boston) some pretty high-quality looks,” Sullivan said. “This was not an easy game to assess the goaltending when you give up the type of looks that we did.”
When Nedeljkovic failed to stop a snap shot from Kevin Shattenkirk in the second period, Sullivan turned to Jarry, who saw his first game action in 20 days dating to a brief appearance March 24 at Colorado.
By the time Jarry entered, the Penguins were down 3-1.
With 5:23 to go before intermission, the Penguins got a power-play opportunity, but only 17 seconds later, they found themselves trailing 4-1 after Brad Marchand netted a short-handed goal.
Brad Marchand capitalizes on the tough Pittsburgh mistake with a shorthanded goal!#NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/fwYYB1fADu
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) April 14, 2024
Moments earlier, Jarry had taken possession of the puck behind his net and sent a pass up the boards.
However, none of his teammates were in the vicinity, and instead, Boston’s Charlie Coyle got it, sending a pass to Marchand, who shot from just outside the goalie crease.
After a scoreless first period, the Bruins scored the game’s opening goal at 8:08 of the second, when Jake DeBrusk pushed a loose puck through Nedeljkovic.
Jake DeBrusk grinds in front and sneaks one home to open the scoring for Boston!#NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/OR2mUDCC53
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) April 14, 2024
Seconds later, after Boston won the ensuing faceoff, the Bruins moved swiftly into the offensive zone, with Matt Grzelcyk firing a wrister on net.
The shot hit Nedeljkovic squarely in the chest, bouncing off him onto the stick of Pavel Zacha, who scored on a wrister from the low slot.
“I don’t have an explanation for you guys on that,” Nedeljkovic said of his play Saturday. “First (goal), the puck was between my legs there, and I thought I had it, but (DeBrusk) took a whack at it and it found its way in. Second one, (I) just didn’t control the rebound, and (the) third one, (I) just got beat from distance. There’s no good explanation. I don’t know. Just wasn’t good enough.”
Boston doubles their lead quickly thanks to a Pavel Zacha rebound tally!#NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/t9UdFzXQMn
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) April 14, 2024
That goal in particular did not please Sullivan.
“I thought in a couple of instances, we didn’t really make them work hard enough for the goals that they got,” he said. “One of them was a non-threatening shot from the perimeter. The rebound goes to the scoring area, and they get a free look.
“We gotta get into people there. We’ve got numbers back. We have to have more of an awareness of the people and circumstances of defending the scoring area. I just didn’t think we made them work as hard as we needed for some of their offense. That’s an area where we have to get better.”
Whomever Sullivan goes with Monday, the Penguins will need to be at their best.
“(Our goaltenders) have been playing unbelievable for us all year, and they’re a big part, if not the biggest, why we’re in the situation we’re in right now,” said defenseman Erik Karlsson, who played in his 1,000th career game Saturday. “We have confidence in both of those guys. We’re excited to come back here Monday and take care of business. I’m sure they’re going to do their part.”
Note: The Penguins canceled a scheduled practice for Sunday.
