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LOS ANGELES \u2014 The Blackhawks are riding Petr Mrazek like a camel right now.<\/p>\n
The 32-year-old goalie is expected to make his sixth consecutive start and 10th start in the first 12 games of the season Saturday against the Kings. It\u2019s a workload unlike any has experienced in years \u2014 even exceeding last season, when he set a career high with 53 starts in 82 games.<\/p>\n
Remarkably, though, he doesn\u2019t feel worn down by the constant action. He finally figured out a solution to his career-long groin issues last season, and that perfect health has continued since.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been great since the start of the year,\u201d Mrazek said Friday. \u201cThe things that I\u2019ve been working on over the years pay off. There were times where it was hard to sleep after the games. Now, I\u2019ve been sleeping well and I\u2019ve been recovering well. I\u2019ve been feeling the best I\u2019ve felt.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce you play in more games, you feel confident and you feel good. You don\u2019t even feel like you\u2019re tired \u2014 you just want to play. It\u2019s been fun. It\u2019s just time to win some games.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mrazek\u2019s .896 save percentage so far doesn\u2019t jump off the page, but it\u2019s skewed by one bad game against the Canucks in which he allowed six goals. In general, he has been solid, giving the Hawks a chance to win most nights.<\/p>\n
He has allowed three or fewer goals in seven of his nine games, making him one the NHL\u2019s leaders in terms of quality-start percentage. And his GSAA (goals saved above average), which takes into account the difficulty of the shots he faces, is right around average at plus-0.06, per Natural Stat Trick.<\/p>\n
The Hawks haven\u2019t produced enough offense to take much advantage of his consistency, however. After their disheartening loss Thursday against the Sharks, they\u2019re now 3-6-0 in Mrazek\u2019s starts this year and 1-4-0 in his last five \u2014 and the one win (against the Avalanche) required some goaltending heroics in the third period.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has been great for us,\u201d coach Luke Richardson said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to get him more than two goals.\u201d<\/p>\n
This extreme reliance on Mrazek certainly wasn\u2019t the Hawks\u2019 plan approaching the season. They envisioned a near-equal split with newly signed goalie Laurent Brossoit, who had been statistically one of the league\u2019s best backups in three of the last four seasons with the Jets and Golden Knights.<\/p>\n
Brossoit\u2019s late-summer meniscus injury, Aug. 27 surgery and longer-than-anticipated recovery time has thrown a wrench in things. His initial estimated recovery time put his return window between Oct. 1-15, but those dates have long since passed and he still hasn\u2019t begun fully practicing with the team \u2014 although he did partially participate one time last week before this road trip.<\/p>\n
Arvid Soderblom has stuck around as the backup goalie instead, but he missed a couple games due to illness, forcing the Hawks to start Mrazek back-to-back last weekend against the Predators and Stars \u2014 which marked just the second time since February 2020 he had done that.<\/p>\n
“[It was the] same as every game, the way I prepared,\u201d Mrazek said. \u201cNothing changed that game. But I didn\u2019t know what to expect from it. After that game, I was like, \u2018It felt pretty good.\u2019 It felt actually better than resting a couple days.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soderblom has recovered and will start Sunday against the Ducks, giving Mrazek some much-needed rest, Richardson said.<\/p>\n
But Mrazek and the Hawks are both lucky things have gone so smoothly up to this point. He believes his lack of aches and pains allows him to sleep better, which allows him to recover better, which creates a positive spiral of healthiness.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re in the flow and you play more games, you feel more confident,\u201d he said. \u201cYou see the game different, and you feel like you can stop every single puck.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mrazek will make his sixth consecutive start Saturday \u2014 a stretch that includes a very rare set of back-to-back starts. But the 32-year-old goalie has enjoyed being so heavily relied upon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":958,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chicago-blackhawks"],"yoast_head":"\n