Yahoo Sports Former OHL Goaltender Makes NHL History
History was made last night in the NHL by a former OHL netminder.
Aaron Bell/OHL Images
Pittsburgh Penguins netminder Alex Nedeljkovic became the 19th goalie in NHL history to score a goal.
After retrieving the Buffalo Sabres dump-in behind his net, Nedeljkovic quickly turned his body to face up ice and did what every goalie dreams of doing — shooting the puck into the middle of the open net.
🚨 ALEX NEDELJKOVIC JUST SCORED A GOALIE GOAL 🚨 pic.twitter.com/kywcdyrW4b
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) January 18, 2025
As mentioned, 18 other goalies have scored in the NHL, but Alex is the first to record a goal and an assist in the same game. He assisted on Pittsburgh's third goal of the game on the powerplay in the second period.
Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images
Additionally, he's the first goalie ever to score in the NHL, AHL, and ECHL. It's his fourth career goal.
As if scoring a goal wasn't good enough, Nedeljkovic also made 40 saves to help secure the Penguins' 5-2 victory over the Sabres.
OHL Career
Alex Nedeljkovic played four years from 2012-2016 in the OHL split between the Plymouth Whalers, and Flint Firebirds (Plymouth relocated to Flint after the 2014-15 season), finishing his tenure with the Niagra IceDogs. He made an OHL all-star team in every season.
He was selected by the Whalers in the sixth round, 123rd overall, during the 2012 OHL Priority Selection. Alex did not start the 2012-13 season in the OHL; instead, he played for the Metro Jets in the NA3HL.
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However, he joined the OHL in November and quickly established himself as one of the league's top goaltenders at just 16 years old.
He made the OHL's first all-rookie team after posting a 19-2-2 record, a 2.28 goals-against average, and a .923 save percentage.
Nedeljkovic followed up his impressive rookie campaign by winning the OHL's Goaltender of the Year in 2013-14. He played 61/68 games that year while posting the league's second-best save percentage (.925%), trailing only Anthony Stolarz — who played only 35 games that year.
The Parma, Ohio native played 191 regular season OHL games, posting a record of 89-77-20, while recording a 2.88 goals-against average, and a .918 save percentage.
He played an additional 37 games in the playoffs, with a record of 22-14, a goals-against average of 2.97, and a save percentage of .905%.
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