There hasn’t been much to celebrate about Alex Nedeljkovic’s first campaign as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins thus far.

Mainly because the backup goaltender hasn’t played that much.

A suspected left knee injury he suffered Oct. 24 landed him on long-term injured reserve for three-plus weeks.

On Sunday, Nedeljkovic rejoined the active roster and directed the Penguins to a badly-needed 3-0 victory against the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights at PPG Paints Arena. It was Nedeljkovic’s first shutout of the season and the Penguins’ first shutout in franchise history against the Golden Knights.

Making 38 saves, Nedeljkovic improved his record to 2-1-0.

In addition to snuffing out a two-game losing streak for his club, the occasion of participating in an NHL contest for the first time in 26 days was a luxury he appreciated.

“You waited all (offseason) to get back into games, and now you’ve got to wait another month,” Nedeljkovic said Wednesday in Cranberry. “It was tough in that aspect.”

Nedeljkovic appeared in one game at the American Hockey League level on Friday after being sent to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on a conditioning assignment. In addition to surprisingly scoring a goal on an empty net, he made 17 saves on 19 shots in a 4-2 road win against the Providence Bruins.

“The fact that he got a game under his belt at the (AHL) level before we put him in here in (an NHL) game gives him a better chance to have success when he goes in there,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “He’s not just going in there having not seen game-real action.”

The only material setback from Sunday’s result was an undisclosed injury suffered by Penguins defenseman Chad Ruhwedel. He did not record a shift past the 8:25 mark of the third period. There was no update on his status.

The Penguins opened the scoring 2 minutes, 13 seconds into regulation when defenseman Ryan Graves scored his first goal of the season – and first as a member of the Penguins - off a goalmouth scramble initiated by the Penguins’ third line.

Golden Knights defenseman Nicolas Hague attempted to settle a puck dump into his zone but lost it while under pressure from forechecking Penguins forward Lars Eller who claimed possession and shuffled a short-area forehand pass to the front of the crease for linemate Drew O’Connor. After goaltender Adin Hill rejected O’Connor’s forehand shot, the rebound slid to the right of the blue paint where Penguins forward Radim Zohorna chopped in a forehand shot but was denied as well. A subsequent rebound off that scoring chance meandered to the left circle where a looming Graves fired a wrister by the blocker of a breakdancing Hill. Zohorna and O’Connor had assists.

“It’s a good forecheck,” Graves said. “You’re just kind of following it up. You’re trying to find yourself in a good area. It’s a mess down there. Everyone is falling. You’re just hoping it pops to you (and) you’re in a decent area. It came right to me.”

Fourth-line center Noel Acciari also scored his first goal of the season and as a member of the Penguins at 11:39 of the second period.

Out of a puck battle off his own end boards, Golden Knights defenseman Alec Martinez tried to rim it out of danger but pressure from Penguins forward Jeff Carter caused a turnover as Martinez inadvertently backhanded the puck off of Penguins forward Matt Nieto who was on his knees behind the cage. The puck caromed to the left of the crease where Acciari immediately lifted a wrister that banked off Hill’s right leg and into the cage. The lone assist went to Nieto.

Those scores represented a rare occasion in which each of the team’s bottom-two lines drove offense.

“It gives me confidence,” Acciari said. “It gives our line confidence. It’s always good to chip in and help out the top two lines. They can take a night off every once in a while and we can still win a game.”

Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin, the team’s second-line center, capped the scoring with his ninth goal of the season on empty net. Forward Jake Guentzel and defenseman Kris Letang claimed assists.

Nedeljkovic celebrated a pair of triumphs on Sunday. Earlier in the afternoon, the Parma, Ohio, native saw his Cleveland Browns claim a construction paper-thin 13-10 home win against the Pittsburgh Steelers. His jubilation over that outcome was not subtle.

At least that’s what one can assume based on him wearing the jersey of Browns defensive end Myles Garrett during his postgame media availability.

— Seth Rorabaugh (@SethRorabaugh) November 20, 2023

“Didn’t really nap much today,” Nedeljkovic said with a smirk. “Had (the Steelers-Browns radio broadcast) in my car on the way here. Maybe I had a little longer coffee break beforehand too. Pretty normal day.”

It was a good day by any measure for him.

“(Nedeljkovic) was great,” Acciari said. “It was like he was never out. He looked phenomenal. Composed. Just very comfortable.”

Notes:

• Penguins forward Sidney Crosby was held off the scoresheet, snapping an 11-game scoring streak. It was only his second game this season without a point, the previous occasion being a 4-2 road loss to the St. Louis Blues on Oct. 21.

• With Penguins forward Vinnie Hinostroza scratched due to an undisclosed injury, Carter returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch for the previous four games.

• With Nedeljkovic returned to the active roster, goaltender Magnus Hellberg was assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. He was recalled to the NHL club under emergency roster conditions on Oct. 26.

• The Penguins lead the NHL with five shutouts. No other team has more than three this season.

• Graves (of Yarmouth) became the first native of Nova Scotia not named Sidney Crosby to score a goal for the Penguins since forward Zach Sill (Truro) found the net in a 3-2 home shootout loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, Jan. 21, 2015.

• Graves became the 561st player to score a regular season goal for the Penguins.

• Acciari became the 562nd player to score a regular season goal for the Penguins.

• Nedeljkovic became the 37th goaltender to record a regular season shutout in franchise history.

• With Sunday’s shutout, the Minnesota Wild and Seattle Kraken are the only active NHL franchise the Penguins have never recorded a shutout against.

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