BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Alex Nedeljkovic became the first goalie in NHL history to have a goal and an assist, and made 40 saves as the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-2 on Friday night.
Rickard Rakell, Anthony Beauvillier, Cody Glass, and Bryan Rust also scored for Pittsburgh who ended a three-game losing streak.
Owen Power and Zach Benson scored for Buffalo and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 14 saves. The Sabres lost for the 18th time in 24 games (6-14-4).
Nedeljkovicsa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ win comes a day after former Penguins starter Tristan Jarry cleared waivers and was sent to the AHL.
Nedeljkovic had a secondary assist on Glass' goal with 8:17 left in the second period that gave the Penguins a 3-1 lead. He then scored when he down the ice and into an empty net with 2:42 left in the third.
Power opened the scoring with a power play goal with 4:14 to go in the first period.
Rakell and Beauvillier scored 27 seconds apart early in the second to give the Penguins a 2-1 lead, and Rust made it 4-1 at 1:09 of the third.
Benson cut the lead to 4-2 with 5:14 to play.
Takeaways
Sabres: Buffalosa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ penalty kill,, which came in 22 for 25 over the last 10 games, went 1 for 4 against the Penguins.
Penguins: Pittsburgh pulled three points behind Boston for the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Key moment
Nedeljkovicsa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ first NHL goal came when he handled the puck behind his own net and floated the puck the length of the ice into the empty net.
Key stat
Nedeljkovicsa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ goal made him the 16th goalie in NHL history to score. Minnesotasa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Filip Gustavsson was the last to do it on Oct. 15 against St. Louis.
Up Next
Sabres visit Seattle on Monday to open a four-game trip, and Penguins play at Washington on Saturday.
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