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Goalie Jeff Zatkoff takes a full-circle route back to L.A. Kings’ net

Goalie Jeff Zatkoff blocks a shot with his shoulder pad while playing for the Ontario Reign, a Kings minor league affiliate, on April 21, 2009.
(Alex Gallardo / Los Angeles Times)
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Sometime in the near future, Jeff Zatkoff will put on a Kings jersey in a game that has true meaning. It’s a moment a decade in the making.

Zatkoff previously spent five years in the organization but never made it into a regular-season game. He was stuck low on the goalie ladder and vaguely remembers some preseason appearances.

“I’ve played a few third periods, but never started here or anything,” Zatkoff said of his first Kings stint, from 2008 to 2012.

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That’s why Zatkoff relished coming back to the team that drafted him in 2006. The Kings signed Zatkoff this summer to back up Jonathan Quick after former No. 2 Jhonas Enroth left via free agency.

Zatkoff, 29, is fresh off a Stanley Cup run in which he won the playoff opener for the Pittsburgh Penguins. He was briefly a good story for the Penguins, but there was no room for him in net after the emergence of Matt Murray to back up longtime goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.

Zatkoff said the Kings were high on his wish list. He wanted to be reunited with their goalie coach, Bill Ranford. He also is teammates again with defenseman Alec Martinez, his roommate at Miami of Ohio.

“I know a lot of the guys in this room, so it makes the transition easier,” Zatkoff said. “But definitely being able to work with someone that you feel is a big part of the reason you are in the NHL — to come back and be able to work with him was a huge selling point for me.”

Zatkoff is aware that he might not get to wear that Kings jersey in net often. Quick typically carries a big workload, and Enroth cited his displeasure with his mere 16 appearances upon leaving the Kings.

Zatkoff proved himself a capable backup in 2013-14, when he went 12-6-2 with a 2.61 goals-against average in 20 games behind Fleury. Kings Coach Darryl Sutter likes that they have restored some depth at the position after veteran Peter Budaj was acquired last year.

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“We’ve got real experienced guys now, in terms of pro experience, NHL experience,” Sutter said. “I think there’s really good competition there, too.”

Zatkoff doesn’t know if his Cup ring with the Penguins will be mailed to him or presented to him when the Kings go to Pittsburgh in December. He left the Kings in the spring of 2012, when they were on their way to their first Cup triumph.

Zatkoff appreciates the circuitous path he’s taken back to the team.

“They’re a big reason why I’m here today,” Zatkoff said. “I cracked the NHL with a different organization [but] they helped me along the way. . . . It’s a little nostalgic to be able to put that sweater on, back where it started.”

Etc.

Most of the Kings’ regulars were held out of an intra-squad scrimmage Sunday in Ontario. . . . Defenseman Zachary Leslie left the scrimmage with an apparent lower-body injury and there was no immediate update.

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