How the Canes’ Alex Nedeljkovic is making the most of his playoff shot. ‘He was a stud.’
Alex Nedeljkovic dipped his head as the Carolina Hurricanes starting lineup was being announced Wednesday at PNC Arena, his long, black hair tumbling down below his chin. For a few seconds, he was a young man alone with his thoughts in the crease.
After the national anthem was played, the head jerked back. So did the flow. On firmly went the goalie mask, like a medieval knight positioning his helmet for battle.
The guys they call “Ned” was ready. Bring it on.
Some in the NHL probably have scoffed when it’s said Nedeljkovic should be a strong candidate for the Calder Trophy as NHL rookie of the year. Many of those skeptics — and there are many — might have been watching Wednesday as Nedeljkovic turned back all 32 Nashville shots for the Canes in a 3-0 shutout of the Predators in Game 2 of their Stanley Cup series.
“He was a stud tonight,” defenseman Brady Skjei said. “He was phenomenal.”
In the Canes’ practices leading up to the start of the first-round series, Petr Mrazek appeared to the goalie working the so-called starter’s crease. But when the time came to name a starter for Game 1, it was Nedeljkovic.
Nedeljkovic appeared to fight the puck early in Monday’s game, even though he would later dispute that assertion. But by game’s end, he was the winner with 22 rather mundane saves in the Canes’ 5-2 victory.
Back in the net Wednesday, Nedeljkovic has never looked calmer or more positionally sound. He wasn’t fighting anything. He made the hard saves and the easy ones as the Preds pressed, and stopped shots that might have looked harmless unless you’re the guy with the mask on working the crease.
With the Canes leading 1-0 five minutes into the third period, Nedeljkovic flashed his glove to snatch a bullet of a shot from the slot by the Preds’ Luke Kunin. It stayed 1-0 until the final minute of regulation, when Sebastian Aho and then Warren Foegele scored for the Canes to ice it.
“There’s nothing like a close game, a tense game, the whole time from the first puck drop to the final buzzer,” Nedeljkovic said. “Everybody was on the edge of their seat. The next shot, you never know what could happen. It could be a hit, it could be a broken stick, just whatever could change the tide of the game. That’s the beauty of the game.”
Nedeljkovic, wearing a black shirt with “Prove It” on the front, gave it the “just-another-game” kind of treatment afterward in his media interview, but the 25-year-old from Parma, Ohio, knows better. In a season that began with the goalie being placed on waivers by the Canes, and not claimed by anyone, there he was Wednesday sitting on the bench, named the game’s first star as Canes fans chanted “Ned! Ned!”
Two playoff starts, two playoff wins. And the second a shutout? That’s more than “another game.”
Nedeljkovic has confidence
“His confidence sticks out the most for me,” Skjei said. “He’s not cocky or arrogant. He just carries himself with that confidence you need to be a goalie. He’s playing great right now.”
In truth, there were many “first stars” Wednesday for the Canes, who will take their 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series to Nashville for the next two games. With defenseman Jaccob Slavin a scratch because of a lower-body injury, the minutes were many for Skjei and defenseman Brett Pesce, who each played about 28 in the game.
“There were a lot of sacrifices,” Nedeljkovic said. “Guys were blocking shots, guys were diving to make plays, to get pucks out. It wasn’t our best but it was a really gutsy effort.”
There were seven Predators power plays, and the Canes did all the necessary penalty-killing work, starting in net with Nedeljkovic.
“You can tell he has confidence between the pipes,” said Aho, who scored the first goal in Game 2 on a first-period power play. “Obviously, we talked about the PK, and the defensive game overall, and it starts with the hot goalie. We’ve got the confidence to put the pressure on their players. We know if they make a play, Ned will bail us out.”
The Canes have the 2-0 lead in the series but it will be different the next two games. They’ll be in Bridgestone Arena, with a loud crowd urging on the Predators, who have been a combative bunch but now have tested Nedeljkovic with 56 shots in two games and gotten two pucks past him.
“It’s huge when you have a hot goalie,” Aho said. “It’s just fun to watch him play right now.”
Carolina Hurricanes vs Nashville Predators
What: Game 3, Stanley Cup playoff first-round series.
When: Friday, 7 p.m.
Where: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tenn.
TV: BSSO (Bally)
This story was originally published May 20, 2021 at 7:30 AM.
