Who knows where The Jeff Zatkoff Story goes? The way this Penguins-Rangers saga is unfolding, Jim Rutherford could be in goal by Game 3.

All we have for now is Game 1 — and what a game it was. The kind you'll always remember if the Penguins go on to win the Stanley Cup.

Shoot, you'll probably remember it no matter what. Zatkoff's performance was that special. It took its place among the unlikeliest postseason goaltending stories in franchise history, joining those of Johan “Moose” Hedberg, Ron Tugnutt and Frank Pietrangelo.

And be sure of this: It resonated far and wide, far beyond the press box where, in the most surreal of sights, Marc-Andre Fleury and Matt Murray congregated near the popcorn machine after the second period.

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IN OXFORD, OHIO, Zatkoff's college coach, Enrico Blasi, sat nervously watching the drama play out. His 14-year-old daughter is a Sidney Crosby fan, so it was a big night in the same house Zatkoff and his Miami (Ohio) teammates used to visit for dinner.

“I kind of squeezed my hands every time the puck got near Jeff,” said Blasi, Miami's coach for the past 17 years. “We were in the living room, playing the game right along with him.”

Blasi's favorite part, of course, was when the camera cut to the “M” for Miami on the back of Zatkoff's mask.

“I got the chills every time they went to it,” he said.

Chills. The same word Zatkoff used in describing his reaction to fans chanting his name late in the game. A word that came up often during these conversations.

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IN NIAGARA FALLS, ONTARIO, Frank Pietrangelo received a text just before faceoff. His daughter, Paige, said she saw on TV it was the 25th anniversary of “The Save,” Pietrangelo's miracle stop on Peter Stastny in the 1991 playoffs.

“All of a sudden I was hearing from people all over the states, texting and Facebooking and everything else,” Pietrangelo said. “And then the game goes that way. What are the chances of that?”

Pietrangelo watched with wife Kim, daughter Jessica and son Dylan, also an ex-goalie. And he wondered: Had a third-string goalie ever started the first game of the playoffs?

Pietrangelo was Tom Barrasso's backup when he was called into action at the last minute to save the Penguins in '91. So he could relate.

“All eyes are on you,” he said. “You don't want to be the guy that lets everybody down.”

One other detail hit him.

“I think it was important Jeff got that time in (the season finale) in Philly,” said Pietrangelo, who owns a junior hockey team. “I remember our last game in '91, Bob Johnson played me in a meaningless game at Madison Square Garden. We lost (Pietrangelo gave up six goals), but it was important because two weeks later, I had to go in.”

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IN MACOMB, MICH., Diane Zatkoff, Jeff's aunt, hosted a party of 20-plus family members. She describes the Zatkoffs as a close-knit, athletic family that isn't afraid to get riled up.

“We were rocking and rolling and hootin' and hollerin',” Diane said. “Everyone was kind of nervous at the beginning. We were making every move and kick save with him.”

Not far from there, Jeff's great uncle, Roger Zatkoff, watched the game proudly. Roger, 85, was a football star at Michigan and in the NFL. He didn't feel up to attending the party. He was well enough to call after each period.

“After the second period, he said, ‘We got one to go. Jeff can't relax!' ” Diane said.

Diane is the principal of the ninth-grade building at Jeff's former high school, Chippewa Valley. She said the whole place was hopping Thursday. People couldn't stop talking about how the crowd was chanting Jeff's name.

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IN KEMPTVILLE, ONTARIO, where he owns and coaches a junior hockey team, Ron Tugnutt sat in a pub called Shoeless Joe's and noticed something right away as the Rangers recorded 12 of the first 15 shots.

Tugnutt used to quiet himself for the biggest games, like the incredible night he made 70 saves against the Flyers. He saw Zatkoff doing the opposite.

“All the pressure, all the stress, and I watched him, and he was loose — laughing, smiling, talking to the refs,” Tugnutt said. “Like it was no issue at all being thrown into those circumstances. He needed to be himself, I guess, and he was.”

• • •

IN COLUMBIA, KY., the elder Jeff Zatkoff — “Big Jeff” as the family calls him — watched alone. He pulled on his Penguins No. 37 jersey, the one the team gave him on the recent fathers trip, and anxiously watched his son skate onto the ice for the biggest game of his life.

Little Jeff had told his father a night earlier that he was starting.

“It was a lot of nerves for Dad from that point on,” Big Jeff said. “I wore the jersey for good luck.”

Big Jeff had a pretty good idea of his son's esteemed standing in the Penguins' locker room. How his sense of humor and work ethic never wavered amid the toughest of circumstances. But he still was heartened to hear of defenseman Ben Lovejoy, after the game, calling Zatkoff “the best teammate anybody in this room has ever played with.”

Back in the day, Big Jeff was a basketball star at Eastern Michigan, drafted by the Indiana Pacers. He knows all the work his son put in with goaltending coach Mike Bales after being demoted to third string. He watched his son play behind the likes of Jonathan Quick and Fleury and toil in anonymity for years.

Until Wednesday.

“He's been very, very dedicated,” said Big Jeff, who works for an automotive company. “A lot more so than Dad ever was in his basketball career.”

Zatkoff remains close to his parents, who are divorced.

Dad might be visiting for Game 2, knowing full well the story could take any number of turns. Wherever it goes, he'll never forget April 13, 2016, especially the moment the crowd started chanting his son's name as time wound down.

He thought they were cheering for Patric Hornqvist at first. Then the realization hit.

“Oh my gosh,” Big Jeff said. “I had chills from my neck to my feet.”

Joe Starkey co-hosts a show 2 to 6 p.m. weekdays on 93.7 FM. Reach him at jraystarkey@gmail.com.

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