Few players feed off the crowd quite like Petr Mrazek of the Carolina Hurricanes.
During games at PNC Arena, with Canes fans stoked, Mrazek is anything but the calm, placid goaltender. He bounces around the crease, his head twitching like a bird, punching at the air at times after plays, taking issue with those who tend to crowd his crease. He's feisty.
The playoff games in Raleigh last year only added to that feistiness. Mrazek was fully fueled on energy and emotion.
It won't be that way this time, in Toronto. The Canes will begin the postseason this week in empty Scotiabank Arena, with some made-for-TV sights and piped-in sounds but no fans in the stands. Emotion is optional. Bring your own energy.
Mrazek, for one, isn't sure what to expect from what will be a most unusual setting.
"We're going to find out," he said in a Zoom interview last week. "I've never played like that, at the big stage, so we'll see how it's going to be.
"I would prefer maybe to play in a small arena. It would feel different. But those are the rules and I'm looking forward to it."
Mrazek will get his first game-like feel for the arena setup Wednesday when the Canes and Washington Capitals face off in an exhibition game at Scotiabank Arena. The Canes' first qualifying round game against the New York Rangers is scheduled Saturday, with a noon start.
"It's going to be unique for the goalies," NBC Sports hockey analyst Brian Boucher said in a Monday media call. "There will be different sightlines. It will take a little bit of an adjustment."
Boucher, a former NHL goalie who once played for the Hurricanes, said holding a two-week training camp and then jumping into postseason play will be challenging for the guys in net. Goalies, he said, often use preseason camps to get their timing down, see shots through traffic, get in work on the penalty kills, hone the little things.
Not now. It's one warmup exhibition game and they're off.
"There will be a lot of pressure on the goaltenders right off the top," Boucher said.
For the Canes, that's Mrazek and James Reimer. Canes coach Rod Brind'Amour said Tuesday the plan was to use both in the Caps exhibition game, although he did not say how he would split the playing time. Nor did he name a starter.
Brind'Amour said defenseman Dougie Hamilton and forward Martin Necas were doubtful for the game. Both have missed the first two practices in Toronto and are listed as "unfit to participate."
As for his approach to the Caps game, Brind'Amour said, "We need to see how our guys are playing, obviously, but just more the meshing of everything and how we grasp our game plan."
Then, some lineup decisions need to be made for Saturday.
The Rangers swept the Canes during the regular season and Mrazek was a loser in three of the games. But he has 22 games of playoff experience in his career, with five shutouts and a 2.37 goals-against average. He started 11 of the Canes' 15 playoff games last year, gutting out the seven-game series against the Caps before suffering an injury against the New York Islanders in the second round.
Reimer has eight playoff appearances _ seven with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2012-13.
When the season was suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic, Mrazek said he returned to his native Czech Republic in April and used the time to mentally and physically prepare for what might come. The gyms were open, he said, so he could get in the physical work. The conditioning side of things was handled.
The mental work again was done with a sports psychologist, Marian Jelinek. The two talk often, before and after games, a routine that began a couple of years ago. Their work is more about Mrazek maintaining his joy and passion for the game, and in being able to put bad games behind him and how best to use his emotional energy.
"People on top, whether in sports, business or any other field, are all on the same 'technical' level," Jelinek wrote in an email. "So what determines who wins among the best in the end? It is precisely the quality and the setting of the inner, subjective world of man. ... This is the main focus of my work with Petr. ... Our cooperation is focused primarily on increasing mental resilience, on the art of internal setting for 'training' and especially for matches."
As Mrazek put it, "We've worked on going game by game and leave everything behind in the past."
One game Mrazek might want to permanently leave behind _ Reimer, too _ is their last one in Scotiabank Arena.
Nearly everyone has heard the story now. In the Feb. 22 game against the Maple Leafs, Reimer and then Mrazek both left with injuries. In came David Ayres, the emergency backup goalie at the arena who suddenly was needed and just as suddenly became a cult hero.
Ayres got the job done in net. The Canes won. Social media was ablaze. Everyone knew Ayres' name and his story.
Mrazek and Reimer now are back at Scotiabank Arena. They'd like to leave this time with some big victories of their own, on their way to holding up the Stanley Cup when all is done. That would be a story.
