The Detroit native stood in brilliantly for usual No. 1 Marc-Andre Fleury in a game that also saw Rangers first stringer Henrik Lundqvist lost to injury. NY dominated the opening minutes, throwing shots at Zatkoff from all angles rather than trying to set anything up.
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Zatkoff was a third-round pick of the Los Angeles Kings out of Miami University of OH in 2006, and signed with Pittsburgh as a free agent in 2012. He offered little on the status of Fleury, who was hopeful to return in time to start the series opener following his second concussion this season. Ditto, Murray. And suddenly Pittsburgh’s forgotten man was thrust into the role of unlikely starter heading into the playoffs.
When the Rangers give what looks like a lame effort at times, who came blame them?
A pretty big one, too; Pittsburgh opened up its Stanley Cup playoffs series against the Rangers with a 5-2 win. He’s the first Penguins player with a playoff hat trick since Malkin did it in 2014.
Lundqvist made his franchise-record 111th consecutive postseason start on Wednesday, but that streak was thrown into jeopardy after Staal’s jousting in front of the NY net ended with his stick getting to they aren’t created to go. Lundqvist took an unintentional stick to the eye from teammate Marc Staal while the was battling with a Penguins player near the crease.
Vigneault, though, said Lundqvist had to practice on Friday in order to be able to play in Saturday’s Game 2.
“It was nice to get that first [action] in playoff hockey for me in the NHL, to see that it’s not that different to play playoffs than to play these guys in the regular season”, Raanta said. Two of those games went to overtime.
Enter Antti Raanta, the former Chicago Blackhawks backup who played 25 games this season and like Zatkoff was called upon for his first National Hockey League playoff action. Even though the Penguins were totally depleted on their blueline, their stars were going through arid scoring droughts, and they had backslid so hard that they very almost missed the playoffs entirely, all five games were decided by just one goal.
Glass left the game, got a few stiches and returned.
There’s a reason most teams don’t carry three goaltenders and go out of their way to avoid having a three-headed monster. Patric Hörnqvist leads Pittsburgh with three goals, Sidney Crosby has two assists and Trevor Daley has four shots on goal. Coach Mike Sullivan remained coy about his decision-making process, and when Pittsburgh came out for warm-ups in their vintage black-and-gold uniforms, Fleury wasn’t even in uniform, instead sitting in the press box in a blue suit. You want to do everything you can to get your stick, to get a foot on it, to get it out of the zone. The New York forward pounced on a rebound opportunity from inside the right faceoff circle. Zatkoff lacks Fleury’s athleticism but managed to scramble when required, keeping the Penguins afloat early while his teammates took time to find their legs. Kris Letang sprung a 2-on-1 past Nash for Tom Kuhnhackl’s shorthanded finish of a Nick Bonino dish past a sliding Keith Yandle and a helpless Raanta, .
“I’ll enjoy it tonight”, Zatkoff said.
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NOTES: The teams held a pregame moment of silence for longtime Philadelphia Flyers owner Ed Snider, who passed away earlier this week…. Discipline is key for both of these teams.
