PITTSBURGH — The Chicago Blackhawks overcame a two-goal deficit to defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2 in Tuesday night's season opener at PPG Paints Arena, but it never would've happened without the performance turned in by Petr Mrazek.
Chicago's goaltender turned aside 38 of 40 shots for a save percentage of .950, and many of them were high-quality saves.
"He was unbelievable," Connor Bedard, who recorded his first career NHL point in his debut, said after the game. "That save on [Jake] Guentzel really turned the game around for us. Down two, they just scored one, to have that, he was unbelievable. He was definitely keeping us in there and the MVP for our team tonight."
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Chicago sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Mrazek said he felt dialed in from the start and it showed.
"I felt pretty good," he said. First game in a long time. The preseason is always way different than the regular season. You’re trying to focus on the things that you work on all summer. I’m not going to lie, the day is long before the game starts. There’s always a lot of thinking before."
Mrazek kept the Blackhawks in the game on multiple occasions. It's hard to point out just one save, because there were plenty.
Mrazek's goals saved above expected was 1.19, according to Natural Stat Trick. He was terrific and deserved the first star honors.
Chicago Blackhawks
"Huge," Jason Dickinson, who scored the game-winning goal, said of Mrazek. "I think that goes without saying. I mean, the guy stood on his head. He took so many backdoor one-timers, so many breakaways that could have easily changed the tide for them. And he held us in it a lot."
It was a great start to the season for Mrazek, who stopped exactly 38 shots on 40 shots against Pittsburgh in his final game of last season. That's back-to-back regular-season wins for Mrazek against this team, in this building, and with the same amount of saves.
"Don’t say it twice, man," Mrazek joked about whether he's got some luck in this arena. "Just a good game [from] our group."