Ex-Penguins goalie Jeff Zatkoff returns home after coronavirus ends season in Germany

Mr. Game 1 didn’t get to live up to his nickname this season.

He didn’t get to the first game of the playoffs or a second, third or beyond.

Jeff Zatkoff was home by the time his playoffs were supposed to begin.

The former Penguins’ backup goaltender has been a member of the Straubing Tigers in Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) for the past two seasons.

As the Tigers’ primary starter in net this season, he led his team to third place in the 14-team league and a first-round bye in the playoffs.

But as soon as the regular season concluded everything was over. At the behest of government officials in Germany, the DEL canceled the postseason as a precaution against the coronavirus epidemic which has interrupted seemingly every aspect of life around the globe.

Unlike leagues in Switzerland or other countries that played games in empty buildings and issued postponements before formally canceling their seasons, the DEL abruptly halted everything March 10.

“We played normal up until our last game of the year,” Zatkoff said in a phone interview. “We got all our playoff (seedings), everything. Then, the next thing you know, we’re showing up to the rink and the season is over. It’s a weird feeling. Usually, you show up after you lost or you won (when the season is over) and you’re going home. I’ve never experienced anything like this. You almost feel like you got knocked out of the playoffs.”

Straubing is located in Bavaria which was one of the first federal states in Germany to enact measures as precautions against the virus.

“Even when (Switzerland’s NLA league) just paused their league or put it on hold, I texted (general manager Jason Dunham) and I said, ‘What do think?’” Zatkoff said. “At that time Germany was kind of operating as usual, wasn’t closing any businesses, borders. He said, ‘No, we should be fine.’ Then, it happened pretty fast when Bavaria set that ban. Then obviously with Italy (which was hit particularly hard by the virus), that really ramped up fast and I think that did it in.”

With the season nearing its conclusion, Zatkoff’s wife and 3-year-old daughter had already returned to their home near Raleigh, N.C. well before the epidemic became a threat to public health. After the DEL’s season came to an end, Zatkoff, a native of Detroit, had to make a hasty return to the U.S.

“(The team) booked our flights for Friday just to try and get the (North American) imports out of there because they weren’t sure what was going to happen,” said Zatkoff, 32. “Then I woke up Thursday morning at like 2 in the morning to my wife in a little bit of a panic. She had just watched (President Donald Trump’s address which happened on what was still Wednesday in the U.S.) where they said they were closing the borders to Europe. At that time, it wasn’t clear if it was to U.S. citizens or not. She was freaking out.

“Thankfully, I was all packed up, I was leaving the next day. I loaded up the car and went to the airport Thursday at 2:30 in the morning because I couldn’t get through to any airlines. Luckily, they changed out flights for free. I was on a flight by 11 (a.m.) that day on my way back. … I landed Thursday at like 9 (p.m.).”

Zatkoff joined Straubing during the 2018 offseason. Despite being an American, he chose to play in Germany to pursue a greater sense of stability in both his career and personal life.

“I got traded from (Los Angeles) to Columbus (late in the 2017-18 season). At that time, we were renovating a house in North Carolina. My wife was back home. I was kind of all over the place. I was up and down (between the AHL and NHL) and I got traded, then up and down.

“Basically playing in Cleveland, going up to back up (with Columbus) and coming back. I missed the whole second year of my daughter’s life. At that point, we had won in Pittsburgh and I think I was just looking for some sort of normalcy. The opportunity to go over there while my daughter was young before she started school full time, to travel to Europe and to get some family time was what was so appealing to me.

“I just reached out to an agent in Europe and Straubing reached out to me. I didn’t know anything about them. I knew (former Penguins goaltending coach Mike Bales), he played in the DEL and he played for Straubing. And he played with the GM who is just an awesome guy. At that point, it was kind of a no-brainer for me. (Bales) loved his time there and I’ve loved it too. It’s a smaller city but it’s only an hour outside of Munich. It’s in Bavaria, you’re close to major cities, close to Austria, close to Switzerland. So it’s easy travel. And it’s a 52-game schedule.”

A third-round pick of the Los Angeles Kings in 2006, Zatkoff’s greatest NHL success came with the Penguins where over parts of three seasons, he appeared in 35 games and had a 16-14-3 record.

His most notable success came in a single game. A Game 1 to be precise.

With starter Marc-Andre Fleury and Matt Murray, then still a prospect, sidelined because of injury, Zatkoff was forced to start the Penguins’ first game of their first-round series against the New York Rangers. He came through with a sturdy 35 saves on 37 shots and led the Penguins to a 5-2 victory, the first of the 16 they eventually collected en route to the franchise’s fourth Stanley Cup title that spring.

In a tongue-in-cheek fashion, Zatkoff became known as “Mr. Game 1.” Two months after beating the Rangers in what was then known as Consol Energy Center, his teammates chanted the nickname as he danced next to the Stanley Cup in the cramped visiting dressing room of SAP Center in San Jose.

“I love it,” Zatkoff said. “It’s a joke between me and the guys. I played Game 1 versus the Rangers and we won. Then we lost Game 1 against Washington (in the second round) and Tampa (in the conference final). So before we played San Jose in the (Stanley Cup) Final, I told (coach Mike Sullivan), “Just so you know, I’m available for Game 1 if you need me.’ So that’s kind of where the joke came from.”

What isn’t remembered quite as well is that Zatkoff and the Penguins lost to the Rangers in Game 2, 4-2.

“I was talking to a bunch of my friends in Straubing and they were like, ‘Hey, you played Game 2. How come you never talk about that?’” Zatkoff said. “I was like, ‘Well I lost. We’re not going to talk about that. That’s not nearly as good of a story.’”

Even having spent the bulk of the past two seasons in Europe, Zatkoff keeps regular tabs on the Penguins. He has played particularly close attention to the goaltending tandem the Penguins have deployed with Murray and Tristan Jarry before the season was postponed because of the ongoing pandemic.

“The new NHL these days, it seems to be going that way where you can try to limit your starter’s minutes,” Zatkoff said. “Obviously, (Jarry) had a great start to the year and he was on fire. Matt’s been playing really well lately. You know what Matt is, he’s a gamer. Come playoff time, if you get him going, you don’t have to look back. You saw Matt getting a little more starts there to the end as it got closer to playoff time. I think anytime you can have two goalies, it helps the team. But it also helps them when they’re playing so frequently.

“When you play every other game, you get into a rhythm, you get into a flow. And you know you kind of have the coach’s confidence that whether you win or lose, you’re going back in. That takes a burden off a player knowing they have the ability to make that mistake but the coach is going to go right back to him. It frees him up. It allows guys to play to their potential whether they’re a third-line, fourth-line (forward) or goalie.”

As he approaches his mid-30s, Zatkoff, who has another year remaining on his contract with Straubing, acknowledges his days of playing in North America are probably over.

“I think that ship has probably sailed for me,” Zatkoff said. “I don’t know. I went over here for a reason and I’ll probably play over here for a couple more years and see where it takes me.”

Having recently completed his accounting degree at Miami (Ohio), where he was a star over three seasons, Zatkoff would like to pursue a front office role once his playing career is over.

“I was on the old 13-year program but I finally got it,” Zatkoff quipped about his academics. “I would love to get into just hockey (operations), the management side of it when I’m done playing. Hopefully, I’ve made enough connections that I can reach out to some people and get my foot in the door and hopefully work my way up.

“Salary cap (management) would interest me the most. I’m not per se really looking to getting into coaching. I feel that would be similar to playing. I would like to do more of a management-type position to be able to hopefully work my way up like (Wild general manager Bill Guerin or Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford). That’s my next goal and to see where I can go from there.”

Follow the Penguins all season long.