American Sniper: Alex Nedelkjovic Became The First Goalie To Score A Goal And Have An Assist In A Single NHL Game
Bill Wippert. Getty Images.You think about how difficult it is to actually score a goal in the National Hockey League. For starters, you need to be one of the very few hockey players on planet Earth who actually make it to the NHL. There have been so many obscenely talented hockey players who have just never been able to crack an NHL roster for one reason or another. Even if you somehow miraculously make an NHL roster, you need to be able to stick around long enough to put one in the back of the net.
Now imagine being a goalie. The chances of you scoring a goal in the NHL area almost non-existent. It's been done before, and we've seen them happen a little more frequently as of late. But still. There have been like, what? 15 or so goalies to get credited with scoring a goal, and only about 10 of them coming directly from a full-ice shot they took?
Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Alex Nedeljkovic joined that list last night with this snipe from behind the goal line to put away the Sabres.
Nedeljkovic is no stranger to letting that thing fly. He might be the most lethal sniper in leg pads the game has ever seen. He's now scored a goalie goal in the ECHL, AHL, and NHL.
But he did do something last night that he's never done before. In fact, he did something last night that no goalie in the history of hockey has ever done before.
2 point night for Alex Nedeljkovic. A goal and an apple, plus he added in 40 saves on the night to boot. Just a kid from Cleveland putting up numbers in the National. Doesn't get more punk rock than that. Maybe the Penguins have finally found their answer between the pipes this year.
Sidenote: If history tells us anything, it's that Nedeljkovic will be placed on waivers next year by the Penguins. Let's not forget that Tristan Jarry scored a goalie goal just 14 months ago for Pittsburgh.
