Just when it seemed like Petr Mrazek’s goaltending had fallen back to earth, the Blackhawks veteran rediscovered his top form this week.
Mrazek stopped 38 of 39 shots Saturday, guiding the Hawks to a 3-1 victory against the Blues only two days after getting his first shutout in three years.
“I just saw the puck really well, especially early,” Mrazek said. “I [saved] the breakaway in the first minute in the first period, and that gets you going. And like I said two days ago, when you see the puck early, it makes the game a little easier.”
Nikita Zaitsev’s two assists, Anthony Beauvillier’s first goal since the trade and Mrazek’s efforts helped the Hawks earn consecutive wins for the first time all season.
“It’s been a long time coming,” coach Luke Richardson said.
They also improved to 4-1-1 in their last six home games and snapped a four-game home losing streak against the rival Blues.
Mrazek had allowed three or more goals in seven consecutive starts entering the week, dropping his save percentage back to normal after an excellent October. He hadn’t been a team weakness by any means, but he hadn’t been able to overcome the regularly shoddy defense in front of him, either.
Starting halfway through a blowout loss Sunday against the Wild, however, something flipped. He stopped the last 10 shots he faced in that game, then all 37 shots he faced Thursday in a 1-0 win over the Ducks before staying locked-in Saturday. Richardson mentioned how his active puck-playing neutralized the Blues’ forecheck, too.
His season save percentage now stands at .912 — an impressive number on this Hawks team.
Korchinski has family matter
The Hawks moved rookie defenseman Kevin Korchinski onto the non-roster list because he’s away from the team to attend to a family matter, Richardson said. Isaak Phillips was recalled from Rockford and slotted alongside Seth Jones.
Korchinski’s absence is unrelated to the world junior championships, which start Dec. 26 in Sweden.
“He’s just starting to scratch the surface of his ability,” Richardson said. “Definitely we’re going to miss him, but we wish him all the best.”
The 19-year-old native of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, nearly produced the biggest highlight of his career Thursday, racing down the right wing and cutting to the net for a high-danger scoring chance that was barely thwarted.
“We want to promote that for him when it’s his chance to go,” Richardson said. “It’s the best part of his game, his skating ability and [ability to] create offense. He’s shown a couple of those this year. And it would be great to add [chances like that] once a period — or maybe twice a period, if it presents itself like it did there — and not be so eager to pass off and bail out.”
Korchinski has two goals and five assists in 25 games, but he has focused most of his attention on improving in the defensive zone, where his game needs a lot more refining. The Hawks remain confident he’ll eventually evolve into a high-end offensive defenseman.
Vlasic more active, too
Fellow rookie defenseman Alex Vlasic also has been more active jumping into rushes and getting involved offensively recently.
Richardson reviewed some video clips with Vlasic in which he skated 180 feet or so — the length of the ice — to get involved in a rush, but then made a poor decision with the puck at the last moment, negating his positive impact.
On one play Tuesday against the Predators, however, Vlasic jumped into the rush, executed a give-and-go with Nick Foligno and circled around the net with the puck — a play that eventually led to a goal by Dickinson.
“I haven’t been perfect, but I’ve impressed myself,” Vlasic said Saturday.
