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It's Mrazek's Net To Lose

February 1, 2018, 7:40 PM ET [7 Comments]
Bob Duff
Detroit Red Wings Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Petr is the principal netminder for the Detroit Red Wings for the foreseeable future.

Which, in the mind of Wings coach Jeff Blashill, is as far as the next game.

“He’s going to play on Friday (at Carolina),” was the length of Blashill’s commitment to Petr Mrazek as his go-to goalie, but he did allow that the net was Mrazek’s to win.

“He’ll get a good chance to prove it,” Blashill told Detroitredwings.com. “I can think whatever I want. It doesn’t matter. He’ll get a chance to prove it. That’s what this league is.”

With the Wings gasping for oxygen in terms of their playoff hopes, Blashill made it clear he was looking for the netminder that could carry the load and carry them back into the postseason chase.

“I talked to both goalies coming out of the (NHL All-Star) break and if one guy gets hot, he’s going to play and I think both guys are very, very, very capable of it,” Blashill said. “We need elite goaltending. That’s just what the league is. If you don’t get elite goaltending, it’s hard to win on a regular basis. We certainly need elite goaltending and I think both guys can give it to us.”

At the moment, Mrazek is the goalie who is delivering those goods. He’s allowed just four goals in his past four starts, going 3-0-1 in those games with two shutouts, an 0.97 goals-against average and .968 save percentage.

“When you get to play, when you play lots of minutes, you get the confidence, the swagger back, and try to build from that,” Mrazek said. “I’m trying to be confident. I’m trying to stop every puck I can.”

The struggles that Mrazek endured for much of last season and most of the first part of this season appear to have subsided. Lately, he’s looked more like the guy who took the NHL by storm when he first arrived in Detroit on a full-time basis in 2014-15, and took the No. 1 goaltending job away from Jimmy Howard.

“Those are growing pains in the league and I think it’s a confidence thing, too,” Blashill said. “I think he feels real confident right now and I think everyone in this room has seen him when he’s at his best, when he’s confident like that, he’s a really, really good goalie, so I just think it’s a confidence thing.

“Some of it, it’s not just all on the goalie, it’s how you play in front of him. I think there’s times we haven’t played good enough in front of him and I think lately, we’ve played better in front of him.”

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