Mrazek returns from thumb injury, Hurricanes shut out Stars

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Petr Mrazek made 28 saves in his return from injury for the Carolina Hurricanes in a 1-0 win against the Dallas Stars at PNC Arena on Sunday.

It was Mrazek's first start since Jan. 30; he missed 31 games after he dislocated his right thumb in a 4-1 win against the Stars. Mrazek has three shutouts in five starts this season.
Jordan Martinook scored for the Hurricanes (25-9-3), who have won five of six against the Stars.
"It felt good to be back. It's been a long journey," Mrazek said. "I think the first period, I was looking for myself there. I was all over the place there in the crease. In the second period, I established myself and I didn't give up many rebounds after that."
Jake Oettinger made 37 saves for Dallas (13-13-10).
Rick Bowness did not coach the Stars in the third period due to NHL COVID-19 protocols.
"Rick has been vaccinated," Dallas general manager Jim Nill said afterward. "We think this is a similar situation -- I know the [Dallas] Mavericks had the same situation with (coach) Rick Carlisle, and there are numerous other people this has happened to -- we think it's a false positive, but protocol, once it is flagged, there are different levels. With the PRC testing ... there are different levels of the infection rate or whatever. He was a very low grade, but it's still positive, and so out of safety concerns, he was pulled. But yes, he has been vaccinated. His first vaccination was back sometime in January. He's had both vaccinations."
Martinook scored the game's only goal 40 seconds into the second period. Vincent Trocheck took a pass through the neutral zone from Brett Pesce and fed Martinook in the slot for his first goal in 25 games.
"I feel like I've been close and kind of fighting it, and a little frustrated, I guess," Martinook said. "I've actually got to give a little credit to my dad. He just said, 'Quit gripping your stick so tight and have fun.'"

Mrazek made 16 saves through two periods, but the Stars had 12 shots in the third.
"We gave it all until the end, I'm proud of the boys," Dallas defenseman John Klingberg said. "We battled through it. It's a grind, it's a tough schedule right now, but it's the same for everyone. Obviously we didn't get the results we wanted, but at the end of the night we battled 100 percent. That's all we can do."
Mrazek preserved the shutout with a pad save against Mark Pysyk at 16:09 of the third and a glove save on Jason Robertson's shot through traffic with 1:28 remaining.
"He didn't have a lot of work for two periods], and then when we needed him to make some saves there in the last five minutes, he made three or four kind of spectacular [saves]," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "There were some weird ones that he couldn't see. They weren't Grade A's necessarily, but they were coming in at angles and screens and he fought through it."
Dallas split the two-game set after a 3-2 win Saturday.
"I just didn't think we played our best game tonight," said assistant John Stevens, who coached the Stars in the third period. "I thought the effort was really good. I just thought we got off our structure a little bit. I didn't think we forechecked very well, especially in the second period. We allowed them to come at us with too much speed, and the byproduct of that is spending too much time in your zone."
**NOTES:** Nill said goalie
[Anton Khudobin
was removed from NHL COVID-19 protocol after his test Saturday was determined to be a false positive. … Mrazek is the sixth goalie in the NHL's modern era (since 1943-44) to get a shutout in each of his first three wins of a season.
Pascal Leclaire
had four with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2007-08. … Hurricanes forward Brock McGinn left in the second period because of an upper-body injury. Brind'Amour said McGinn will be evaluated Monday. … Klingberg's six-game point streak and Robertson's four-game point streak ended. … Stars forward Roope Hintz returned after he missed one game with a lower-body injury. … Trocheck extended his point streak to 10 games (five goals, eight assists). … Carolina is 18-0-2 when leading after two periods.