EDMONTON — If you came away with anything from the Edmonton Oilers’ 4-3 shootout loss to the Detroit Red Wings Monday night, it was that the young guys looked pretty good.

The only problem was, the young guy who looked the best was 24-year-old Michal Postava, the goaltender making his first National Hockey League start in the Red Wings’ net.

“He’s solid,” said Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the third Oiler to be thwarted by Postava in the shootout, allowing Lucas Raymond’s wrist shot past Tristan Jarry to stand up as the game-winner. “I thought he was good positionally and always there. Even in the shootout, I saw both Connor and Leo deke, and he stuck with it. I tried to beat him with a shot and he was right there.”

Postava was better than excellent, robbing Evan Bouchard twice in overtime, then stopping each of Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Nugent-Hopkins in the shootout. He’s an undrafted rookie from a Czech town of 25,000, who the Oilers had interest in when he chose Detroit.

You never know with goalies — whether he goes on to greatness or becomes a one-game wonder — but if nothing else Postava will have a heck of a tale to tell the grandchildren one day.

“It’s amazing, I feel like a kid,” he beamed post-game. “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.”

It was a pretty nice debut, putting a shootout “X” beside the names of two of hockey’s best shooters — Nos. 97 and 29.

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

All in all, it was less than an amazing night for Edmonton, though at 8-2-2 on the season it stands as a game you can look at either of two ways.

Edmonton had leads of 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 and did not win. So there is an element that says, you’ve got the Red Wings in your barn, at the end of their road trip — you should be able to finish that team off.

But on the other hand, in a game where the top line’s only production came from a pass that caromed off the foot of Vasily Podkolzin and into the net, Edmonton still found enough goals to grab a point.

Make no mistake — this has been a one-line team on many a night so far this season. So, to get a goal from the second power-play unit, and the go-ahead goal on a Colton Dach deflection of a Ryan Shea shot, that marks some actual progress in the support scoring department.

If Edmonton’s top power-play unit finds a goal the way it usually does, you win this game almost every time. In the end, the depth guys earned Edmonton a point in this one, a pleasant change of pace in a season where the top players have carried the team thus far.

“When you have the players that you do on the first line, they’re going to have it every night. It’s up to us to kind of hold our own,” said Shea, of himself and the rest of the support group. “We need depth scoring. Every team that’s gone far in the playoffs or is good in this league has a second through fourth line that can do damage. I think it’s a great sign.”

Ike Howard ripped home his first of the season on the power play on a nice feed from Kasperi Kapanen. It was Howard’s first goal since Oct. 28, 2025 — very nearly a calendar year.

“Just good puck movement from our unit,” he said. “Everyone was involved. It was a great play by Kappy to find me at the end,.”

Howard deserves credit for working hard in a fourth-line role all season long, a place he hasn’t played much in his hockey career. But there is a school of thought that says the Oilers should either play him in the top six — and they may well now, with Zach Hyman leaving the game with a suspected concussion — or send him down to Bakersfield where he’ll get far more playing time and puck handles.

“He’s worked really hard, competed real hard,” head coach Mike Babcock said of Howard, who he would like to see spend more time with the puck once he gets it. “You’ve got to learn how to take a check and own a lane in the National Hockey League, so you can hang on to the puck. Who has it when you’re done with it?”

“If it’s the other team all the time, it’s not a good thing,” Babcock continued. “You look at a guy like Draisaitl, he is exceptional at it. He gets it, he just puts his butt out there and he hangs on to it. You’ve got to be able to hang on the puck to be an offensive guy in the National Hockey League.”

Edmonton is now 2-1-1 on a homestand that closes with a visit by the surging Calgary Flames on Wednesday.