Michal Postava stopped Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in the shootout of his first NHL start, and the Detroit Red Wings rallied to beat the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 at Rogers Place on Monday night, October 26. The 24-year-old made 25 saves in regulation and overtime, then turned aside all three Edmonton attempts after Lucas Raymond scored the only goal of the shootout.
It was only the second NHL game of Postava’s career. He made his debut the previous Thursday in relief against the Vancouver Canucks, stopping seven of eight shots in the third period of a Detroit win, and on Monday he was handed the net for a full start against the most dangerous top end in the league. By the end of the night he had a win, a perfect shootout and a place in recent Red Wings history alongside Petr Mrazek and Jimmy Howard as goalies to win their first career start for the club in the last quarter century.
A Three-Goal Swing In The Third Period
Edmonton struck first. Vasily Podkolzin opened the scoring in the first period on a play set up by Draisaitl and McDavid, and the assist extended McDavid’s point streak to 12 games. Detroit answered in the second period on the power play, Viktor Arvidsson tying the game 1-1 from Raymond and Alex DeBrincat, and the teams went to the third period level.
The third period swung back and forth in a hurry. Isaac Howard restored Edmonton’s lead with a power play goal at 4:18, his first goal of the season, assisted by Kasperi Kapanen and Colton Dach. Thirty seconds later Emmitt Finnie tied it again for Detroit, finishing a play from Arvidsson. Dach then put the Oilers back in front at 16:32, set up by Ryan Shea and Nugent-Hopkins, and Edmonton looked set to close it out at home.
Detroit pulled Postava for the extra attacker and kept the pressure on until Dylan Larkin tied the game 3-3 at 18:43, collecting a pass from Raymond, kicking the puck up to his stick and slipping it between the pads of Tristan Jarry. Jarry finished with 26 saves for Edmonton. Overtime solved nothing, although Postava had the last word there too, stopping an Evan Bouchard wrist shot from the slot with nine seconds remaining to push the game to a shootout.
It’s amazing, I feel like a kid. I watched all those NHL games when I was young and I didn’t expect to one day be in the net and win the game. Now I’m just so happy.
Three Saves Against Three Stars
The shootout lineup Postava faced is as hard as the format gets. McDavid went first and was stopped. Raymond scored for Detroit, roofing a wrist shot past Jarry, and that single goal turned out to be enough because Postava did the rest. Draisaitl was turned aside, DeBrincat was stopped by Jarry to keep the margin at one, and Nugent-Hopkins could not solve Postava on the final attempt. Three Edmonton stars, three attempts, no goals.
Detroit got production up and down the lineup behind him. Arvidsson finished with a goal and an assist, Raymond added two assists before scoring the shootout winner, and Finnie scored his fifth goal of the season. The win closed Detroit’s four-game road trip at 2-1-1 and answered a 4-1 loss in Calgary on Saturday. Head coach Todd McLellan praised the response, pointing to the checking, the penalty kill and his rookie goaltender.
What It Means For Edmonton
The Oilers did not leave empty handed. The single point moved Edmonton one point ahead of the Vegas Golden Knights into first place in the Pacific Division, and the scoring was spread across the lineup, with Podkolzin, Howard and Dach all finding the net and Draisaitl and McDavid both recording points. Howard’s goal was his first of the season and Dach added an assist to go with his goal.
Still, this is the kind of home game Edmonton expects to close. The Oilers led three separate times, led 3-2 inside the final four minutes, and then could not beat a first-time starter with three of the best shootout weapons in hockey. For Detroit, the night answered a different question. A team that needed a stand-in in net got a performance it can build on, and Postava got a first NHL win he will be telling people about for a long time.
