Newcomer Daniil Tarasov stopped all 15 shots he faced in his first preseason game, and Michal Postava starred in overtime for the Detroit Red Wings.
Tarasov, a free-agent signee brought in to replace Cam Talbot, was in net for the first two periods of the Wings' outing against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Monday, Sept. 21.
The Wings ended up losing, 1-0, after a three-round shootout.
Tarasov only faced three shots in the first period, but turned away 12 in the second. Like the Wings, the Blue Jackets' lineup was light on NHL regulars, but it was a good opportunity for Tarasov as he acclimated to a new team. Michal Postava, slated to start the season with
the Grand Rapids Griffins, took over in the third period, as planned. He turned away six shots in the third period and four in overtime. The Wings had 11 shots in the first period, but only seven the rest of regulation and none in overtime.
Who traveled
Nate Danielson, Michael Brandsegg-Nygård and Carter Mazur, a trio that could remain intact when the season begins on Oct. 2, were part of the group that traveled to Columbus. The other lines featured one NHL group – J.T. Compher with Michael Rasmussen and Keegan Kolesar – plus minor league/prospect lines featuring Sheldon Dries with Carter Bear and John Leonard and Dominik Shine with Dylan James and Kienan Draper.
Defenseman William Wallinder was in the lineup; he's out of waiver exemptions and trying to make a claim for a job, as were Axel Sandin-Pellikka, Shai Buium, Jacob Bernard-Docker, Anton Johansson, and Jacob Bryson.
Shootout rotation
Conor Garland scored in the first round of the shootout. The Wings sent out Sandin-Pellikka, but his handiwork ended with the puck rolling off his stick. Nate Danielson tried to even the score in round two, but Pheonix Copley (Michigan Tech) denied Danielson's shot with a blocker save. John Leonard tried a wrist shot in the third round to no avail, leaving the Wings 0-for-3.
Special teams
The Wings killed off four penalties in regulation play, the last one with 2:07 to play after Shine got two minutes for cross-checking Guillaume Richard and five for fighting Max McCue (who challenged Shine after the cross-check and also was sent off for fighting). The Wings had two shots on their three regulation power play opportunities.
Next up: Penguin power?
The Wings will travel to Pittsburgh to play the Penguins on Tuesday (7 p.m., Detroit SportsNet). Starting goalie John Gibson is earmarked to play the first two periods.
Contact Helene St. James at Hstjames@freepress.com. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Red Wings backup goalies star in exhibition opener vs Blue Jackets
