RALEIGH, N.C. — Petr Mrazek took San Jose’s best shot — squarely in the chin — and it knocked him to the ice. The Carolina goalie picked himself up, and when the game was on the line, he stopped the Sharks cold.
Mrazek stymied San Jose in the shootout and Andrei Svechnikov scored the only goal of the tiebreaker, leading the Hurricanes past the Sharks 3-2 on Thursday night.
Before the shootout, Mrazek stopped 28 shots — and one solid punch from Sharks center Joe Thornton with his chin, dropping straight to the ice after what he called a “cheap shot” and leading to some shoving behind the boards during the second-period melee.