Postava impresses in first NHL start

EDMONTON – Netminder Michal Postava was rock solid in his first NHL start for the Detroit Red Wings on Monday.

Postava made 25 saves and added three more in the shootout session to earn the win. Lucas Raymond scored the shootout winner and had a pair of assists as the Red Wings came away with a 4-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.

“It’s amazing, I feel like a kid,” Postava said. “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.

“I just wanted to enjoy the game and try to help the guys and make some saves. That was the only mentality that I had.”

Postava, a 24-year-old undrafted netminder from Czechia, was actually appearing in his second career game, replacing John Gibson in the third period of a 5-2 win against the Vancouver Canucks last Thursday.

He became just the third Red Wings goaltender in the past quarter century to win in his first NHL start, joining Petr Mrazek (2013) and Jimmy Howard (2005).

“I was excited and a little nervous, just like I am for every game,” Postava said. “But it was my first NHL start so I just tried to enjoy the game and play my best hockey and I think I can be better next time, but it was an important win for us.”

Postava also became the third goaltender in NHL history to win his first career start against a team that featured the NHL’s top two leading scorers entering play in Edmonton forwards Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

“It’s crazy,” Postava said. “You look at how many points they have so far and I think they’re two of the best players in the world right now, so maybe it was more amazing for me to win.”

Detroit head coach Todd McLellan was impressed with his young goalie.

“He’s very athletic, we think he anticipates so well, he can read where the shot release is going,” McLellan said. “He’s been in our organization for a year-and-a-half now. When you trade a first-round draft pick, a future goalie away (Sebastian Cossa) you should know what you have and we had a pretty good idea that Postava was what you saw tonight.”

Viktor Arvidsson, Emmitt Finnie and Dylan Larkin scored in regulation for the Red Wings (5-4-3) who went 2-1-1 on their Northwestern road trip.

“We finished off the road trip in the right way, so it’s been good,” Arvidsson said. “I’m happy for the team that we can go home and have a good road trip behind us.”

Detroit trailed three times in Monday’s contest and tied the game once again with just 1:17 remaining in the third and their goalie pulled as a bouncing puck came to Larkin in front and he shovelled in just his second of the season.

It was the third time this season that Detroit has scored a game-tying goal in the final two minutes of regulation, which stands as the most among all clubs.

“Against this team you can’t let them get the next one,” McLellan said. “They get rolling, they get a lot of confidence, but we responded appropriately all three times. We’ve been a pretty resilient group for most of the season, and we saw it again tonight.”

Arvidsson’s goal came on the power play. It was his fourth, trailing only Draisaitl (six) and Nick Schmaltz (five) in that category.

Moritz Seider recorded an assist to tie Dennis Seidenberg (207) for the third-most helpers from a German defenceman in NHL history.

Vasily Podkolzin, Isaac Howard and Colton Dach replied for the Oilers (8-2-2) who have dropped two straight and also lost forward Zach Hyman to what looked to be a concussion.

McDavid extended his season-starting points streak to 12 games, now with a staggering 34 points in that span. He matched the longest season-opening assist streak in NHL history, equalling Sebastian Aho, Ken Linseman and Wayne Gretzky.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 26, 2026.