Mrazek enjoying 'fun journey,' has been 'rock' for Blackhawks

CHICAGO -- Petr Mrazek is looking at the big picture.

The Chicago Blackhawks goalie is as frustrated as his teammates with their last place standing in the Central Division (8-15-2).

On an individual front, he's pretty happy with where he's at. He's been a workhorse and one of the Blackhawks' more consistent performers despite allowing eight goals in his past two starts.

"It's fun," said Mrazek, 32. "I've been enjoying the hockey so much lately, the last two seasons, so it's been a fun journey for me right now."

Chicago will play the Boston Bruins at United Center on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET; CHSN, MAX, TNT, TVAS) after Arvid Soderblom made 18 saves in a 4-1 loss at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday. Mrazek is 7-10-1 with a 2.79 goals-against average and .908 save percentage in 18 games while facing 543 shots (30.2 per game). The Blackhawks haven't given him much goal support, their 2.44 goals per game is 31st in the NHL.

After playing 56 games (53 starts) last season, Mrazek was expected to have a more balanced workload when the Blackhawks signed Laurent Brossoit to a two-year, $6.6 million contract ($3.3 million average annual value) July 1. Brossoit has yet to play this season. He had a follow-up arthroscopic surgery on his right knee Nov. 26, his first was Aug. 27, and was expected to be out at least six more weeks.

"He's been our rock," Blackhawks center Jason Dickinson said of Mrazek last Saturday. "He's someone we can lean on in every game and in any situation. I think the past couple of weeks, there've been moments where he didn't even practice for a couple of days, he comes in and plays stellar for us.

"It's a guy that you know he's going to show up for us. We don't even need to worry about it. It creates a lot of comfort in our ability to go out there and play because we know he's going to bring it."

Mrazek has also become a mentor for Soderblom, an undrafted goalie who's played 57 games for the Blackhawks. Whether working with Mrazek in practice or watching him from the bench, Soderblom has learned a lot.

"He's great at reading the game," Soderblom said last Tuesday. "He seems to be one step ahead sometimes in reading the play and when to do what save.

"That comes with experience, too. He's been around for a long time so he's great at reading the game and that's probably the biggest thing I've learned from him. Other than that, we have kind of different styles in the net, but there's always things you can pick up and that's one thing I really have seen him do great."

When the Blackhawks acquired Mrazek in a trade with the Maple Leafs on July 7, 2022, he was coming off a season when groin injuries limited him to 20 games (18 starts). Once in Chicago, Mrazek started work with goaltending coach Jimmy Waite, who made a few adjustments to his game.

"The big thing we changed is the bad-angle stuff," Waite said. "In the past, he was always set back inside the post, and he was getting beat on those bad angle [shots], on the side of the posts and short side. We put more overlap, which is you stand over the post on your feet, so you cover more of that.

"And just being set on shots, too. He was diving all over the place. Moving side to side was always sideways, never set, so [now] it's the quick shuffles to always be set to get a shot. Those are little details, but they make a big difference. And when you start playing back deep in your net, there's too much net, too many screens and tips. When you start backing up, this is when the puck doesn't hit you anymore, so, yeah, those little details."

Mrazek said it took a bit to see results during his first season (2022-23), when he still had injury issues and played 39 games (38 starts).

"Then last year I think the game was starting to pick up and that's something that, being consistent and doing the right things every single game that [I want]," Mrazek said. "You don't feel good on the ice sometimes, but you get hit by one or two pucks and you start feeling the game again. It was one of the best things that could happen, having Jimmy as a goalie coach."

His calm presence and goaltending have given the Blackhawks a chance.

"He's really good at staying in the moment and never gets too high or too low," Waite said. "If a bad game happens, it happens. He's just very level, even keel. That's what you need as a goalie. And he's a great guy, too. Everybody likes him around the room, they want to play hard for him so that helps as well."