Red Wings Goalies Steal the Show in Columbus Loss
· Yahoo Sports
The Red Wings preseason opened Monday night with a 1-0 shootout loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Detroit hockey has officially begun! Whether you are excited for the upcoming regular season or pessimistic about it, Monday’s game was exciting to watch.
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Cannon Fodder in Columbus
The cannon fired in a shootout. The Red Wings lost their first preseason game of the 2026-27 season, and that is about all the standings will remember. Preseason results are not the point, the evaluation is, and by that measure Monday night was a success. Detroit lost in a shootout, but new light got shed on a few key players, and that is worth a lost exhibition. The “L” on the box score does not mean anything once the regular season starts.
Michal Postava Channeled Hasek
Michal Postava is my new favorite goalie prospect. I am not saying he is the next Dominik Hasek, but Postava embodied Hasek on Monday when he came way out of his net to break up a shorthanded breakaway late in the third period. In doing so, he upended Josh Eernisse, flipping him in the air. The scene was almost identical to the night Hasek charged out and flipped Marian Gaborik end over end on Dec. 7, 2007. Both goalies are Czech. Call that a coincidence if you want.
The Hasek impression was not Postava’s only bright spot. He stopped all 10 shots he faced in the third period and overtime, six in regulation and four in the extra frame. Postava went undrafted, signed a two-year entry-level contract with Detroit in June 2025 and reported to the Grand Rapids Griffins. His rookie season there was more than promising. He went 17-6-0 with four shutouts, set Griffins single-season records with a 1.71 goals-against average and a .937 save percentage, and shared the AHL’s Harry “Hap” Holmes Memorial Award with Sebastian Cossa as the goaltenders on the team that allowed the fewest goals.
More From the Red Wings Preseason Opener
Postava was not the only hot goaltender Monday. Daniil Tarasov, who signed a one-year deal with Detroit on the opening day of free agency in July, stopped all 15 shots he faced across the first two periods in his return to Columbus, where he started his NHL career. Postava took over in the third.
The goalie split is partly a function of the calendar. The new collective bargaining agreement cut the preseason to four games per team, down from six, so Coach Todd McLellan has half the looks he used to get and has to double up where he can.
Nate Danielson played well even though he never ended up on the score sheet, though nobody from Detroit did. One play worth mentioning: Danielson beat the Columbus defenders into their zone to get the puck and made a nice pass to Michael Rasmussen, who did not capitalize even though he was wide open.
Axel Sandin-Pellikka showed his speed and confidence, and he carried a heavy workload on the blue line. The speed stood out more than anything. That is no surprise. The young defenseman put up 21 points in 68 games as an NHL rookie last season, and he looks like he is still skating at that gear.
Fight Night
Preseason games normally are not exciting to watch, and they are not what most people would consider “meaningful hockey.” Monday was not one of those games. Both teams piled up hits and blocked shots, and there were two fights. Kienan Draper, Kris Draper’s son, and Luke Tuch dropped the gloves right off the faceoff both players centered, at 15:40 of the second period. Tuch connected on more punches, but Draper held his own and ended up on top when it was over.
Round two came with 2:07 left in the third. Dominik Shine cross-checked Guillaume Richard and took the penalty, and Max McCue answered the call right away. The fight was a stalemate throughout and ended in a draw. Fighting like this in the preseason is a sign of a hungry team. Regardless of your feelings about fighting, Detroit fans should be happy about this.
Crosby and Malkin Are Up Next
Detroit is in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night, 7 p.m. ET at PPG Paints Arena. The Red Wings had not named a lineup as of Tuesday morning, but Pittsburgh has, and two names stand out: Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are both in. The same CBA that shortened the preseason also caps players with 100 or more NHL games at two exhibitions, so the Penguins are spending one of Crosby’s and one of Malkin’s on Detroit. That makes tonight a better measuring stick than Columbus was, and a real chance for Detroit’s young players to see top-tier NHL talent.