Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Pens recall Vokoun from conditioning stint

Tomas Vokoun

Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Tomas Vokoun, of the Czech Republic, makes a stop on a shot during NHL hockey training camp on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2013 in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

AP

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.