Helene St. James

Detroit Free Press

ANAHEIM, Calif.— Petr Mrazek insists he feels great, is as confident as ever.

The numbers he had as he prepared to start Wednesday at Honda Center for the Detroit Red Wings against the Anaheim Ducks do not back him up, but part of Mrazek’s attraction is his singular focus. A 3.11 goals-against average and .896 save percentage after 21 games? That’s the past. Mrazek is about the present.

“I wouldn’t focus on any other thing than just stop the puck and hope I get the win,” he said after the morning skate. “That’s all that matters.”

Mrazek did everything he could in the evening, making 22 saves only to suffer a loss as his teammates failed to score in the 2-0 final. It was his finest game in weeks and backed up a comment he’d made a few days earlier.

Related stories:

Ott? Five forwards? Red Wings try new looks to resuscitate power play

Mrazek pointed to the influence of goaltending coach Jeff Salajko, who was Mrazek’s mentor in the minors and was promoted to the Detroit position last summer.

“On the ice we work on lots of stuff that I never work on, around the net, around the post,” Mrazek said earlier Wednesday. “I can tell in this way, I feel way better, when the numbers are not what numbers what I want to have.”

Mrazek’s mediocre play — he had allowed at least three goals in each of his previous six appearances — ties into why the Wings are hurting for points. He has had a turbulent season, stealing two points in St. Louis but also costing two points at home against Columbus, and it’s come after the Wings declared him their No. 1 guy last summer, and signed him for two years, $8 million. Mrazek lost his starting job to Jimmy Howard before he got hurt Dec. 20 at Florida, and it was rookie Jared Coreau who got to start the outdoors game in Toronto.

Mrazek, 24, is not the only player on the team who needs to be better, but his position carries far greater spotlight than that of a forward or defenseman. Mrazek, though, does not easily rattle.

“I think a strength of his is the spotlight has never, ever worried him whatsoever,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “He’s really put the work in — he’s worked his tail off and when you do that, that’s how you get out of situations that aren't where you want them to be. He’s got great short-term memory. One of his greatest strengths is that he puts things behind him and moves on.

“I was a goalie, sometimes pucks went wide, sometimes they hit posts and stayed out and sometimes it went in. It’d be nice for his sake to go his way but he can’t control that. What he can control is his play and he's got to play good.”

One of Salajko’s points of emphasis with all of the goaltenders — Mrazek, Howard and Coreau — has been VH and reverse-VH techniques, in which goaltenders seal the post tight.

“Those two things that I’d never worked on, I am getting better at every day,” Mrazek said. “I think with Sal, we work on it almost practice, before and after.

“He has helped me a lot with the technique stuff and off the ice. I am really happy that he is the guy who is helping me and I hope I am going to show him that I can be better.”

Blashill said he has seen Mrazek’s “technique improving from the beginning of the year till now. That's not always going to show up in results, but over the long term, it does. There are certain areas of the game he has really improved at and it’s just a matter of then getting the results.”

Howard, who has a .934 save percentage and 1.96 goals-against average in 17 games, is not expected back until next month. If by then Mrazek has regained his footing, all the better for the Wings to have two goaltenders playing at top-notch levels as they reach for a playoff spot.

Contact Helene St. James: hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.