Goalie Petr Mrazek had a solid, resurgent season for the Blackhawks in 2023-24. 

Putting two years of groin and hip injuries behind him, the 32-year-old started a career-high 53 games, had a .907 save percentage and was hailed as the MVP of a rebuilding Chicago team by coach Luke Richardson and players.

But Mrazek allowed three goals on the first four shots he faced in his first start for Czechia at the IIHF World Championship is his hometown of Prague on Saturday. Underdog Norway owned a 3-1 lead late in the first period as the Czechs and Mrazek came out shaky, silencing the  crowd of about 18,000 in the prime-time game.

But Mrazek buckled down and the Czechs roared back to win 6-3, outshooting Norway 49-11 for the contest. Former Blackhawks David Kampf and Michal Kempny were in the lineup for the Czechia.

Seth Jones, Team USA Bounce Back

Blackhawks defenseman Seth Jones had two assists and played 20:32 in Team USA's 6-1 win over Germany in Ostrava on Saturday. Once again, Jones was paired with Zach Werenski, his former teammate on the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The Americans came back with solid effort and goals from six players following a 5-2 loss to Sweden on Friday.

Alex Vlasic, who was paired with Jones in Chicago often last season, played 16:08.

Blackhawks forward Lukas Reichel, who is scheduled to join Germany, wasn't in the lineup on Saturday. The German team had no update on Reichel's arrival.