BLOG: Mrazek Ready to Make Return Soon Following Injury

Petr Mrazek dropped both of his padded knees to the ice halfway during the second period of the Blackhawks' home opener. Spreading his legs wide into the butterfly, the long-time netminder performs the move several hundred times a game without much thought. When Mrazek came up however and felt a searing pain in his inner thigh, he instantly knew what had happened.

"I talked to [Alex Stalock] on the bench with like six minutes left [in the period]," said Mrazek on Tuesday, now a week-and-a-half removed from his groin strain. "I was like, 'I'm gonna try to grind it out,' because I know how it feels when you [come off the bench and] go in the net with four or five minutes left in a period."
Alex Stalock subbed in to play the rest of Chicago's 4-3 OT victory over the Detroit Red Wings. Two days later, the Blackhawks placed Mrazek on injured reserve.
"That was the only frustrating part, that [the injury] happened from nothing," said Mrazek. "It wasn't like a big save or anything. That's why I wanted to be careful to make sure everything's alright."
After a full week of rest, Mrazek has made significant progress in his injury recovery and made his first return back to morning skate on Tuesday. The team hopes Mrazek will be fully recovered in time for the Blackhawks' California road trip against Los Angeles and Anaheim starting on Nov. 9.

"It's great to see him on the ice. I wasn't sure he'd be on the ice that quick," said head coach Luke Richardson. He added that the team will nevertheless be careful, as groin injuries usually require more recovery time for goalies than other players.
Though he'd vastly prefer to be in game playing, Mrazek's enjoyed watching Stalock in goal.
"They've been playing well," Mrazek said. "Alex has been around for a long time. You can tell he's a veteran guy [and] he knows how to play the game."
Regardless of who's on the ice in goal, it's all love between the netminders in the Blackhawks locker room. Mrazek praised Arvid Söderblom after he was recalled from Rockford and in goal against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night. Söderblom blocked 41 of 45 shots on goal for the Blackhawks in the teams' 3-4 OT loss.
"He deserved to get his first win in the NHL," said Mrazek. "But you know he played great and I know he's going to get [that first] win soon."