Veteran goalie continues resurgent season with Chicago. Awaits possibility of re-signing with team before trade deadline.
Petr Mrazek was sensational through overtime, stopping 37 of 38 San Jose shots. Then he blocked eight of nine in a shootout as the Blackhawks edged the Sharks 2-1 on Tuesday night.
The 31-year-old Mrazek basically went on autopilot in his fifth straight start.
"I didn't even know it was nine (rounds)," Mrazek said. "I stopped counting after it was six or seven because I was hoping someone's going to score."
Chicago ended a three-game losing streak and dealt San Jose its 15th loss in 16 games. The Blackhawks won for only the second time in 10.
The Shootout: Almost Matched a Chicago Record
Tuesday's tiebreaker fell two rounds short of the Blackhawks' longest ever shootout, an 11-round, 4-3 win home win over the Blue Jackets on Dec. 1, 2009. It was their longest since a nine-round 3-2 loss at Columbus Dec. 14, 2014.
Kevin Labanc was the only Shark to connect in Tuesday's shootout. Chicago newcomer Rem Pitlick scored in the third round with an in-tight move and Boris Katchouk beat Mackenzie Blackwood in the ninth.
Mrazek then sealed Chicago's victory with a stop on fellow Czech Filip Zadina's wrist shot.
"It was a guy from Czech also so I was really excited for that," Mrazek said. "I was hoping he's going to go the last one and I would stop him."
Mrazek also stopped fellow countryman and San Jose leading scorer Tomas Hertl with a nifty poke check in the bottom-half of the third round.
Mrazek on a Roll
Mrazek has allowed just 10 goals on 140 shots for a .929 save percentage in his five-start run.
"I've been feeling good and I've been playing a lot of games," he said. "And like I said before, being healthy and focusing on just hockey, it's fun."
Mrazek's three-year, $11.4 million contract is set to expire at the end of the season. Would he like an extension with Chicago to backstop its rebuild?
Especially after the Blackhawks offered two-year add-on deals to forwards Nick Foligno and Jason Dickinson in the last week?
"Let's see how that's gonna's be, what's gonna' happen," Mrazek said."I'm happy for both of them. They deserve it."
Asked if his agent had talked with the Blackhawks about a fresh deal, Mrazek could only chuckle. "A good one, right," he said. "You have to ask him. I haven't talked to him for a few days." See the following video with remarks from Mrazek.
Game Flow
Injury-depleted Chicago managed only one goal in regulation/overtime for the fourth straight game. Cole Guttman scored in the first period.
The Sharks had been shut out 3-0 on Monday afternoon in Buffalo.
Guttman was credited with a power-play goal at 10:41 of the first period to put Chicago ahead 1-0. At the edge of the crease, Guttman ticked Ryan Donato's shot from between the circles. The puck was finally knocked in off the leg of Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro.
The Sharks dominated a scoreless second, outshooting Chicago 15-9 and testing Mrazek with several tough chances. His best saves might have been on William Eklund and Fabian Zetterlund early in the period, then Eklund finished the flurry with a shot off the crossbar
Ryan Carpenter tied it 1-all 5:13 of the third on San Jose's 29th shot. After rookie defenseman Kevin Korchinski lost the puck behind the Chicago net, Justin Bailey fed Carpenter in front for a one-timer.
Guttman The Enforcer
Guttman is the smallest player on Chicago and generously listed at 5-foot-9. But he jumped in and fought 6-foot-0 San Jose defenseman Kyle Burroughs at 9:25 of the second after Burroughs boarded Lukas Reichel from behind as Reichel was losing his balance.
Vlasic Classic
Chicago rookie defenseman Alex Vlasic, 22, skated against his cousin, 36-year-old San Jose D-man Marc-Édouard Vlasic for the third time in an NHL game.
The two met in a pair of contests in April 2022 when Alex was called up from the AHL for a 15-game NHL debut. Alex, from north suburban Wilmette, Illinois, entered as Chicago's plus-minus leader at plus-7.
Injury Report
Chicago played without defenseman Connor Murphy, who's out day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Jarred Tinordi took his place in the lineup.
D-man Nikita Zaitsev left the game and didn't return.
Cold Night
The Blackhawks announced their smallest crowd of the year, 16,401. The United Center seemed emptier on a night when the game-time temperature was 1 degree F and the windchill was minus-20.
