McLellan Already Has Comfort Level With Mrazek

DETROIT — NHL coaching decisions have always involved two parts statistics, one part psychological profiling and a dash of voodoo.

A coach then sprinkles it with his own intuition and serves up a starting goalie.

It may have seemed mildly surprising that Red Wings coach Todd McLellan went with Petr Mrazek for a third start after he lost his last outing to the Carolina Hurricanes. But the McLellan decision was rewarded when Mrazek posted 17 saves in a 3-0 win against the travel-weary Vegas Golden Knights.

“He’s giving us some confidence,” McLellan said. “I could try and explain it to you. And this is not a swing at the other two goaltenders, but you just feel it on the bench and when a save is made, the energy that’s on the bench right now with Petr in the pipes. “

This is voodoo part. “And when the puck doesn’t hit him, even when it goes in, there’s not a big sag,” he said. “We sense that. We feel it. So we chose to go with him again.”

Playoff Race Tightens

The win is huge for Detroit. Despite losing seven of their previous eight games, they were only two points out of a NHL playoff spot after that game.

“I (hadn’t) played for a while…” said Mrazek, acquiring from Chicago at the NHL trade deadline. “And once you’re playing, you get your confidence back, your swagger back. So, I felt every game that I played, I felt better and better. ”

Mrazek is now 2-1 (2.01 GAA, .920 save percentage) in his three starts. Given the Red Wings’ hope to make the playoffs, the urge to stick with a goalie playing well could be strong for McLellan.

Posting a shutout in a critical game generally gives a team an added boost.

“I think it gives us confidence,” said Red Wings center Marco Kasper, who scored one of the team’s three goals. “We know we can play a tight defensive game and we got the goalies back there that help us out as well. And yeah, it’s huge. We just gotta keep going now. We wanna string together a couple wins now and. “

Being traded  to a team in the midst of a playoff chase adds more motivation to Mrazek who had been with a team in the chase for a draft pick in the top five.

“When you’re battling for playoff spot, you know that’s the best time of the year to make a playoffs,” Mrazek said. “We know where we are right now. So that excitement is not just me, it’s around the room every day.”

Mrazek Shutout History

This is Mrazek’s second tour with the Red Wings. He previously played for the team from 2012-18. This is his first Detroit shutout with the Red Wings since a 37-save outing on Jan. 22, 2018 at New Jersey. Mrazek’s span of 2,611 days between shutouts for Detroit is the fifth-longest in NHL history by a goaltender for the same franchise behind Pete Peeters (3,312 days with Philadelphia), Bill Ranford (3,280 days with Boston), Brian Boucher (3,064 days with Philadelphia) and Roberto Luongo (2,950 with FLA).

The Red Wings start a four-game road trip Tuesday at Washington. The team is at the stage where every game seems bigger than the last. It would seem likely Mrazek will be the starter.

“I think that every team is at a different spot in their evolution,” McLellan said. “There’s some really poised teams. This (Vegas team) is probably one of them that have won in the past. And they know how to handle that. There’s other teams that need to experience it. That’s probably where we’re at. And there’s teams that are wishing they were at our level, going out on the road. I want our guys, and I know I’ve said this a million times, I just want them to think about what we’re going to do in Washington.”