Mrazek, Blackhawks defeat Sharks in 9-round shootout

CHICAGO -- Petr Mrazek made 37 saves and another eight in the shootout for the Chicago Blackhawks in a 2-1 victory against the San Jose Sharks at United Center on Tuesday.

Cole Guttman scored for Chicago (13-29-2). Rem Pitlick and Boris Katchouk had the goals in the tiebreaker.

“Yeah, it’s fun,” said Mrazek, who started his fifth straight game “I like shootouts. I didn’t even know it was nine [rounds]. I stopped counting after six or seven because I was hoping someone was going to score.

“I’ve been feeling good, playing a lot of games. Like I said before, being healthy and focusing on just hockey, it’s fun. Playing every game puts you in the game.”

Mackenzie Blackwood made 24 saves for the Sharks (10-31-4), who have lost 15 of 16, including 3-0 at the Buffalo Sabres on Monday.

“I thought we played well,” San Jose coach David Quinn said. “I thought we had a lot of Grade A [chances]. I thought we played well. We played hard. We’ve been having a hard time scoring goals here the last few days. But if we play like that, the pucks will eventually end up going in.”

Guttman gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead at 10:41 of the first period with a power-play goal. Ryan Donato’s shot from the slot rebounded off Blackwood and went to Guttman in front of the net. Guttman’s shot deflected off the leg of Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro and in.

“Yeah, obviously been working hard on the power play, especially this last week,” Guttman said. “Been struggling a little bit obviously. In order to win games, you've got to put the puck in the net on the power play. So, just good puck movement, good recoveries and obviously a lucky bounce there. But it comes from hard work.”

Mrazek made two stops on Fabian Zetterlund at 1:04 of the first period. He made saves on Tomas Hertl and Zetterlund before William Eklund hit the crossbar on the second rebound at 3:43. Zetterlund had a game-high eight shots on goal but didn’t have a point.

Ryan Carpenter tied the game 1-1 at 5:13 of the third period for the Sharks. Justin Bailey won the puck behind the net and passed in front to Carpenter.

“He’s so fast,” Carpenter said of Bailey. “He works so hard. A guy goes in and wins a battle. I thought their [defenseman] pretty much had the puck, and he goes and takes it from him and sets me up. He’s the guy who sets up the entire play. I think, most people, you notice him on the ice, his speed, but not only his speed but how hard he works.”

Richardson praised Mrazek for his leadership, as well as his goaltending.

“He’s been great all year for us, not just us, but I mentioned before, he talks to guys on the bench,” Richardson said. “Even in the shootout, he was talking about who was going. Most goalies get in their own world, they don’t want to talk, they want to focus on their own thing. But he wants information, and he gives information to our defensemen, especially, and then he’s got energy and he’s good.”

The Sharks went 1-3-1 on their five-game road trip. The win came last Wednesday at the Montral Canadiens to end a 12-game losing streak.

“Without question, when you play with emotion and passion, you’re just a better hockey player and a hockey team,” Quinn said. “Losing can take that away from you. That can really weigh on you. I think that’s kind of what’s happened here over the last few weeks. But tonight, we had it. We had passion. We had enthusiasm. You could see it in our play. It carried over in all three zones. It carried over defensively, and it carried over offensively even though we didn’t score goals.”

NOTES: Sharks center Mikael Granlund left the game after he was checked into the boards by Blackhawks forward MacKenzie Entwistle at 1:59 of the third period. Granlund was holding his left shoulder. He is second on the Sharks with 29 points (five goals, 24 assists). “Not sure yet what the prognosis will be,” Quinn said. “He might be out a little bit.” … Chicago defenseman Nikita Zaitsev did not come out for the third period because of an undisclosed injury; coach Luke Richardson termed him a “maybe” for the game at Buffalo on Wednesday. … Guttman’s goal was the Blackhawks’ 21st by a rookie this season, tied for most in the NHL with the Columbus Blue Jackets.