The Daily: Postava Still Earning The Job; Mazur Scores Twice vs. Moose

The post The Daily: Postava Still Earning The Job; Mazur Scores Twice vs. Moose appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now.

The Grand Rapids Griffins “other” goalie Michal Postava has played himself into the spotlight in the AHL playoffs.

Postava’s consistently strong play earned him the net for Game 1 of the Griffins’ playoff series against the Manitoba Moose. He’s is making the most of his opportunity with a 1.01 goals-against average and .957 save percentage (67 saves on 70 shots) to give the Griffins a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series. Postava needed only 15 saves in Wednesday’s 4-2 win.

“He’s a special kid, man,” Grand Rapids defenseman Erik Gustafsson said. “He’s a great goalie. makes it so much easier for us playing in front of him. . . He’s a very good goaltender. Makes us very calm to play in front of him too, so it’s fun to see.”

The Red Wings signed him as a free agent last summer after he helped his Brno Kometa win the Czech League playoff grown. The title was won on Postava’s 3-0 shutout in a Game 7.

The Red Wings already had two premium prospects in Sebastian Cossa and Trey Augustine. Cossa is a Red Wings first-round pick and Augustine was the best college goalie this season. But Augustine is only recently signed and Postava’s consistency pushed him ahead of Cossa.

“Everyone’s got full trust and confidence in him and we’ve seen it all year long from both goalies,” Grand Rapids coach Dan Watson said. “But just down the stretch, he was seeing the puck well, extremely confident, he was playing the puck well, and it’s followed right into these playoffs. So to be able to continue to throw him in the net again, it’s easy decision right now.”

Red Wings In Case You Missed It

Red Wings’ Lucas Raymond is playing for Sweden at the World Championships for the fourth consecutive season.

Detroit goalie John Gibson have only themselves to blame for their playoff miss.

Is Carter Mazur a Red Wings player or a Griffins player? He’s both. But he was the No. 1 star in the Grand Rapids victory Wednesday.

Red Wings Extra

The Grand Rapids Griffins signed Swedish player Noah Dower Nilsson (already signed by the Red Wings) to a tryout contract on Monday. They listed him with Dower-Nilsson hyphenated. On Tuesday, the Griffins announced his name has no hyphens. Dower Nilsson informed the team. Good for him. You would be surprised how many young Europeans say nothing when teams don’t get their name quite right. . . With the Red Wings recent signings, the Griffins have a bulging roster. Dylan James, Kienan Draper, Noah Dower Nilsson, Ondrej Becher, Shai Buium and Jesse Kiiskinen are among those not playing thus far.

Hockey Now Digest

Colorado: Brock Nelson of the Avalanche is a Selke Finalist along with Tampa Bay’s Anthony Cirelli and Montreal’s Nick Suzuki. Colorado Avalanche

Philadelphia: The Flyers have lost Noah Cates for the remainder of the series against the Carolina Hurricanes. Philadelphia Flyers.

The post The Daily: Postava Still Earning The Job; Mazur Scores Twice vs. Moose appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now.