Petr Mrazek gives the Red Wings the best chance to win

“The big thing with Petr is that he doesn’t get nervous,” Detroit coach Jeff Blashill told the media after the game. “The bigger the moment — it doesn’t affect his game. He just continues to play.”

Mrazek has pushed Detroit to rebound since a disappointing home loss to Pittsburgh in which the Red Wings blew a 2-0 lead to lose to Evgeni Malkin and the Penguins 5-2. With the Czech native between the pipes, Detroit has kicked off its current road trip with three straight wins — against Buffalo, New Jersey and then San Jose.

Thursday’s tilt was a heck of a test. The Sharks gave Mrazek plenty of work, tallying 36 shots on the clock. But the goalie denied 35 of those quality scoring chances, with a cluster of them coming in close succession in the latter part of the third period.

The biggest save, of course, was the stop on Ward’s backhand attempt that allowed Detroit to regain possession of the puck and lead to Justin Abdelkader skating up on the subsequent rush to score the game-winner late in the third period.

Abdelkader acknowledged to the media post-game that he only got a glimpse of Mrazek’s big stick save from the bench just before he hopped on the ice, but was sure it looked “amazing” on the replay.

“He’s done that to me a few times in practice, so I know what it feels like when you don’t score,” he said. “We’re fortunate, because that’s obviously a turning point in the game.”