Ahead of the 2016 Championship Reunion on Jan. 31, we are taking a look back at each round with a player who had a big impact on the series. Today, Jeff Zatkoff talks about the Eastern Conference First Round against the Rangers. To join us on January 31st for the reunion, click here.
In the final game of the regular season on April 9, 2016, the Penguins were amping up for their playoff run with rookie goaltender Matt Murray. In that matchup with the Flyers, Brayden Schenn collided with Murray in the crease and sent him into concussion protocol.
With Marc-Andre Fleury already sidelined with a concussion, it meant that 28-year-old goaltender Jeff Zatkoff had to come in and relieve Murray. With Zatkoff finishing the game, and only a few days before the playoffs started, it was still unclear if Murray or Fleury could play Game 1.
“I would say I had a 75% idea that I would start,” Zatkoff said. “Then it was confirmed the night before the game when we had a team dinner. But I mean, Matt wasn't practicing, and Marc was on the ice, but was still having symptoms. So, all signs were kind of pointing towards me playing.”
Having appeared in just five NHL games since Jan. 1 of that year, and just 35 in his entire career, Zatkoff was about to play in the biggest game of his life.
“I think anyone who tells you they don't have butterflies around nerves is lying,” Zatkoff said. “At the start of the playoffs, you don't want to let anyone down, right? They worked so hard all year to get to that spot, and you want to be a part of that success.”
With Murray being recalled around Christmas time, the team carried three goaltenders on the roster for the rest of the season, thus limiting Zatkoff’s playing time. He gives a lot of credit to the coaches and management – Mike Bales, Bill Guerin and Rick Tocchet – for helping him get through the season to stay sharp mentally.
“I got extra work in after practice, and then treated my opportunities in the net in practice like they were my game situation,” Zatkoff said. “As you get later in the year and closer to playoffs, you really don't think that that opportunity is going to come, and it kind of just happened very quickly.”
Most goaltenders in the NHL all have strict routines and patterns that they follow on a daily basis. With the stakes as high as they were, Zatkoff wasn’t even able to take his pregame nap, let alone be able to eat anything.
But as he and the team took to warmups, and the energy started to build in the arena, Zatkoff was able to zone in as puck drop neared.
Four minutes into the game, the Rangers saw their first high-quality scoring chance off a slot shot by Kevin Hayes that Zatkoff denied with his blocker.
“There are just games where you know you're seeing it better than others, and I kind of had a clean read, made a save, and just calmed all my nerves,” Zatkoff said. “It was like, ‘Okay, I got this.’ I’m seeing it well, and it's just what I've done a thousand times.”
From there, Zatkoff and the team were able to feed off one another. Patric Hornqvist opened the scoring in the first period, and Sidney Crosby followed that up in the second period with a breakaway goal.
“They were putting a decent amount of pressure on us,” Zatkoff said. “Sid comes out, and he doesn't need many opportunities, and he scores. It kind of deflated them a little bit. To be able to have that extra breathing room, I think it just settled everything down.”
After two periods, Zatkoff stopped all 22 shots that he had faced and was settled in. But at the start of the third period, the Rangers had a 5-on-3 power play opportunity and were able to convert, cutting the Penguins’ lead in half.
As the Rangers continued their power play, Nick Bonino and Tom Kuhnhackl went down on a shorthanded 2-on-1, which led to Kuhnhackl’s first career playoff goal. Two and a half minutes later, Hornqvist got his second goal, this one on the power play, for a 4-1 lead.
“I just felt like we responded throughout that whole game, like we would take their punches and then right away just counterpunch and build that cushion right back up again,” Zatkoff said.
Derek Stepan got his second goal of the game halfway through the third period, but the Penguins and Zatkoff were able to limit the Rangers’ push to just that. With goaltender Antti Raanta pulled, Hornqvist completed his hat trick.
“It's just the ability to be a team, to have different individuals step up and deliver at certain times when maybe you're not expecting it,” Zatkoff said. “Obviously, you're always going to get great performances from guys like Sid and (Kris Letang), that's why they are who they are. In the playoffs, it’s the ability to have other guys step up at key times.”
When the clock on the scoreboard hit zero, it was official: Zatkoff had won Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the Penguins with 35 saves on 37 shots, and was named the Second Star of the Game.
Hearing the chants and cheers from the fans in the crowd, and seeing his teammates skate over to him, that’s when it hit Zatkoff just how incredible of a game this was for him.
“That's kind of what you work for, to be put in those spots, and to be able to deliver, kind of when given that opportunity,” he said.
While Zatkoff was extremely nervous in the lead up to the game, no one was more anxious than his wife.
“She told me that she didn't watch the game,” Zatkoff said. “She shut her phone off, shut all the TVs off, and then turned it on, like, around 10 o'clock when she knew the game would be over, and then watched the highlights when she knew the result.”
After the game, Zatkoff’s phone was just blown up with calls and texts from all his friends, family, and former teammates congratulating him. Zatkoff said it felt a lot like his first professional game in terms of the reception he got.
Zatkoff did get the start for the team in Game 2, but the Rangers ultimately came away with the victory. While that was where Zatkoff’s time in the net ended, Murray returned to the lineup to pick up where he left off, going 9-2-0 and carrying a .930 save percentage in the regular season.
“The plan was for Murray to always come in and take back over,” Zatkoff said. “It was just a matter of whether he was healthy. I mean, he was on a run. He deserved to be playing.”
With Zatkoff serving as the backup, the Penguins went into Madison Square Garden for Games 3 and 4 and came away with 3-1 and 5-0 wins.
“We just went into their barn and kind of beat the wheels off of them two games in a row,” Zatkoff said. “It kind of set the tone for the series. We left there going 3-1, but they were kind of convincing wins, and I felt like we controlled the play.”
While Crosby and Malkin’s lines were a huge factor in the team’s success that round, what really stood out to Zatkoff was the emergence of the HBK Line, consisting of Phil Kessel, Nick Bonino, and Carl Hagelin.
“They all brought something unique and different to the table that they were really good at, which kind of separated themselves,” Zatkoff said. “I feel like we had such a tight-knit group that year. It was kind of one of those things that once the ball started rolling, you couldn't stop the momentum.”
In Game 5 on home ice, the Penguins continued their strong play. With an explosive second period that featured four goals, Pittsburgh walked away with a 6-3 victory and advanced to the Second Round.
Without Zatkoff being able to step up for Game 1 in such a big moment, who knows how the rest of the series would have been for the team. It takes 16 wins to hoist the Stanley Cup, and Zatkoff got Pittsburgh the first one, earning the iconic nickname ‘Mr. Game 1.’
“It's a special time in my life. It's a great memory, right? It's very nostalgic,” Zatkoff said. “Playing in that game and getting that win just kind of changed my persona and image in the city of Pittsburgh, and created a memory for me there that always holds a special place in my heart.”
