Petr Mrazek Wins First Game For Detroit Red Wings in More Than 2,500 Days

Petr Mrazek Detroit Red Wings
Photo: Detroit Red Wings

The Detroit Red Wings defeated the Buffalo Sabres by a score of 6-3 to snap the team’s six-game losing streak. Two veteran Red Wings played a particularly key role in the win against the lowly Sabres. The Sabres have 56 points in 64 games played and are in eighth place in the Atlantic Division. Before the NHL’s trade deadline, the Red Wings had acquired goaltender Petr Mrazek from the Chicago Blackhawks, as well as veteran forward Craig Smith, in the Joe Veleno deal. Mrazek made 23 saves on 26 shots in his first game played for the Red Wings in a little over seven years. “Great to be back,” Mrazek said after the trade was made.

Mrazek played for the Carolina Hurricanes, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Chicago Blackhawks in between his stints with the Red Wings. The first win of Mrazek’s career came against the St. Louis Blues in 2012 when the Red Wings won by a score of 5-1. The last game that he won in his first stint was against the Nashville Predators on February 17th, 2018, when the Red Wings won by a score of 3-1. In the intervening 2,580 days between those two wins, Mrazek amassed 422 wins for three of the original six teams in the NHL.

All the goalie moves were made with the anticipation of Sebastian Cossa eventually joining the Red Wings club. Cossa was drafted by the team with the 15th overall pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. Cossa is making his way to the Red Wings roster. In the meantime, the Red Wings currently have seven goalies under contract, Cossa being one of them. In 33 games played for the Grand Rapids Griffins this season, Cossa has a 2.32 GAA and a .916 save percentage.

Superstar Patrick Kane also played well against the Sabres, his hometown team, scoring two goals and adding three assists. A photograph of Kane and his father at a game when Kane was a child was shown during the broadcast. Kane is playing well as of late, scoring two goals and adding five assists in the last five games for the Red Wings. “We needed the win. It didn’t matter how it came. Obviously, it’s nice to put up seven, but we needed the win tonight,” Kane said after the game.

Kane played most of his Hall-of-Fame career with the Blackhawks, winning the Stanley Cup in 2015. Kane scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal against the Flyers in 2010. Even at the age of 36, Kane is the most talented scorer the Red Wings have had on their roster for some time. Kane has scored 17 goals and added 28 assists in 55 games played for the Red Wings this season.

The Red Wings have seventeen games left in the 2024-25 NHL season. At the time of writing this, the team has an eight percent chance of making the Stanley Cup playoffs. This is something that the team has not done in nine seasons. Both Kane and Mrazek will play a significant role in the team making it back. Perhaps this game against the Buffalo Sabres was the beginning of these two players rounding into form to propel the Red Wings back into the playoffs.

ITR 45: Everything Is Happening Inside The Rink

Join Chris and Conrad as they get you up-to-date on all the latest signings and trades heading into Free Agent Frenzy!
  1. ITR 45: Everything Is Happening
  2. ITR 44: We Have A Champion…Again
  3. ITR 43: It's Winning Time
  4. ITR 42: Ripe For Repeat?
  5. ITR 41: Stanley Cup Final – The Rematch

Discover more from Inside The Rink

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Leave a Reply

Steve Yzerman, General Manager of the Detroit Red Wings

Yzerman: This Red Wings Team ‘Can Take a Step’

The Detroit Red Wings currently have $12.09 million in salary cap space after the team acquired goaltender John Gibson from the Anaheim Ducks and acquired free agent left-winger James van Riemsdyk recently. According to general manager Steve Yzerman, the team will likely stand pat right now despite having this amount of cap space. The fact […]

Read More
Tanner Jeannot of the Los Angeles Kings

Player Profile: Tanner Jeannot

Tanner Jeannot was born on May 29, 1997, in Estevan, Saskatchewan. The left-shooting forward played for three seasons with the Estevan Bruins from 2010-13. In his first two seasons with the U15 club, Jeannot scored 29 goals and collected 18 assists in 42 games and five goals and three assists in ten postseason games. Jeannot […]

Read More
Gage Goncalves of the Tampa Bay Lightning

Tampa Bay Lightning Make Significant Player Signings To Start July

As free agency has started in the National Hockey League, many teams, including the Tampa Bay Lightning, are making significant roster moves with free agents and player extensions. Just yesterday, July 1, for day one of free agency, the Lightning extended young 24-year-old Portuguese forward Gage Goncalves to a two-year contract worth $1.2 million a […]

Read More