Penguins
‘He Battles’: Nedeljkovic Opportunity & Attitude, Taking Penguins Net (+)

The Pittsburgh Penguins goalies will not appear in the upper echelon of netminder statistics, and with the shooting gallery defense that some nights plays in front of them, they surely are not in the conversation for any postseason awards unless ‘unenviable task’ becomes a trophy.
And yet, Alex Nedeljkovic is grabbing his chance.
Headlined by the struggles and undoing of former top goalie Tristan Jarry, who now resides in the AHL for the foreseeable future, the less-than-sparkling netminder play for chunks of the season was a festering infection upon an already wounded patient.
After the Jarry amputation, the patient improved. While the cause and effect may not be directly related, there’s also a pretty good case to be made that removing Jarry in favor of Nedeljkovic was the proper tonic for an ailing club.
In January, Nedeljovic is an acceptable 4-3-0, highlighted by an above-board .908 save percentage. Better still, he’s posted a .929 or better save percentage in five of those seven starts.
It would seem that coach Mike Sullivan again dropped a little hint that Nedeljkovic’s personality is an added helper to his team and a not-so-subtle answer that the goalie was asserting himself as the No. 1 guy.