Pittsburgh has recalled goalie Tomas Vokoun from his two-game conditioning assignment in AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, the club announced on Monday.
Vokoun, 37, missed the entire regular season after being diagnosed with a blood clot in his pelvis during training camp. He’d previously experienced blood clotting issues in his career -- missing significant time while a member of the Nashville Predators -- and underwent a lengthy rehab to correct the issue this season.
While he was out, the Pens turned to Jeff Zatkoff to fill the backup void, and he did reasonably well -- 12-6-2 record, 2.61 GAA and .912 save percentage. But Zatkoff, who’s never played a postseason game, lacks the big-game experience and veteran presence Vokoun brings. When No. 1 netminder Marc-Andre Fleury stumbled during last year’s playoffs, Vokoun stepped in and provided Pittsburgh with some solid play, going 6-5 with a 2.01 GAA and .933 save percentage.
As such, it’ll be interesting to see what Pittsburgh does with Vokoun now that he’s back from WBS. He went 1-1-0 over the weekend with the Baby Pens, posting a 2.41 GAA and .891 save percentage.