Nedeljkovic shines as Pens beat Kings

Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic made 25 saves on 26 shots in a 5-1 win against the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto. com Arena in Los Angeles on Monday.

The result boosted Nedeljkovic’s record to 9-7-4 and followed a news-making performance Friday when he recorded a goal and an assist and made 40 saves in a win over the Buffalo Sabres.

“We did a great job of taking it to them, not letting them get to their game,” Nedeljkovic said to reporters in Los Angeles via audio provided by the team’s media relations staff. “Anytime they got any sort of momentum, a shift or two in our end, we seemed to respond the right way.”

The Penguins completed a sweep of a two-game season series against the Kings, who were 14-2-1 at home coming into Monday’s game. The Penguins have won two of their first three games on their season-long seven- game road trip.

Penguins forward Rickard Rakell, who leads the team with 23 goals, was scratched for the first time this season. Before the game, coach Mike Sullivan told reporters in Los Angeles that Rakell traveled back to Pittsburgh in order to attend to a personal matter.

The Penguins’ power play opened the scoring 10:09 into regulation when forward Kevin Hayes found his eighth goal.

Collecting a loose puck on the right half-wall of the offensive zone, Penguins forward Philip Tomasino backhanded a pass to the near point for Hayes, who embarked on something of a wild adventure. Surging up the right wing boards, Hayes shielded the puck from Kings forwards Trevor Lewis and Adrian Kempe. Dipping below the goal line, Hayes made a course correction and attacked the cage. Upon arrival, Hayes lost possession when Kings defenseman Joel Edmundsson chopped the puck away, only to inadvertently direct it into his own cage. Hayes was credited with the score. There were no assists.

Penguins forward Sidney Crosby’s 13th goal was achieved through more conventional means exactly four minutes later.

In Los Angeles’ right circle, Penguins forward Anthony Beauvillier harassed Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson into a turnover. Penguins forward Bryan Rust tried to whack the loose puck from the slot but had his offering blocked by Kings defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov. The rebound deflected to the right of the cage where Beauvillier had a forehand shot denied by goaltender David Rittich. Corralling another rebound, Beauvillier banked a backhand pass from the end boards off the left wall to the near point where defenseman Matt Grzelcyk stroked a one-timer. Stationed just below the left dot, Crosby redirected the puck off the ice, causing it to carom by Rittich’s blocker on the near side. Grzelcyk and Beauvillier had assists.

The Penguins went up by a field goal at 8:26 of the second period via forward Evgeni Malkin’s ninth goal.

Settling a loose puck at the left point of Los Angeles’zone, Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson offloaded it to the high slot for Tomasino. Darting into the left circle, Tomasino dished a clever backhand pass to the right circle where Malkin swept in a forehand shot through Rittich’s five hole. Assists went to Tomasino and Pettersson.

Kempe, a steady nuisance to the Penguins, got the Kings on the scoreboard at 16:02 of the second frame with his 23rd goal during a five-on-three power-play scenario.

Taking a pass at the left point of the offensive zone, Kings forward Anze Kopitar backpedaled a bit to the high slot then fed a pass to the right circle where Kempe kaboomed a one-timer over Nedeljkovic’s left shoulder on the near side. The puck hit off the underside of the crossbar and deflected into the cage. Kopitar and defenseman Jordan Spence collected assists.

Penguins forward Cody Glass scored at the last minute — literally — when he got his third goal at 19:00 of the middle period.

After Anderson and Kopitar failed to cleanly connect on a pass in the neutral zone, Penguins rookie defenseman Owen Pickering accepted the charity at his own blue line and dished the puck to the center red line for Glass, who fed the puck to the left wing for Hayes. Barging up the wall past Kopitar, Hayes slipped a pass to the top of the crease where Glass jabbed in a forehand shot that clunked in through Rittich’s five hole. Hayes and Pickering procured assists.

Beauvillier, promoted to the left wing of the top line in Rakell’s absence, got in on the act with his 11th goal 6:57 into the third period.

Chasing down a puck dumped into Los Angeles’ right corner, Rust chopped it off the end boards for Crosby who claimed possession in the left corner, maneuvered behind the cage and fed a pass to the high slot where Penguins defenseman Kris Letang fired a half-speed one-timer. Rittich made the initial save but couldn’t secure the rebound which sat loose next to his left leg. From the left of the cage, Beauvillier fended off defenseman Brandt Clarke and swept in a backhander. Letang and Crosby had assists.

“Just getting a couple I think gave us a good confidence boost,” Crosby said to reporters in Los Angeles. “We generated a lot of good chances.”

Notes:

• Rakell was one of six players who had appeared in all 48 of the team’s games this season entering Monday. Forwards Noel Acciari, Crosby and Drew O’Connor as well as Grzelcyk and defenseman Erik Karlsson were the others.

• Before Monday, Rakell had the team’s third-longest active consecutive games played streak: Crosby – 222 Karlsson – 120 Rakell – 101 O’Connor – 67 Acciari – 48 Grzelcyk – 48

• After being limited to one goal in his first 33 games of the season, Glass has two goals in his past three contests.