Nashville Predators rookie Yaroslav Askarov made his NHL debut -- and team history -- Thursday against the Montreal Canadiens when he became the youngest goalie to start for the franchise at 20 years old.

Askarov played in place of backup Kevin Lankinen, who did not dress due to illness. Lankinen was slated to start the second game of a back-to-back to end a five-game road trip, which concluded with a 4-3 loss.

The Predators made Askarov the highest-drafted Russian goalie ever when they chose him 11th overall in 2020. He played in the KHL before joining the AHL's Milwaukee Admirals this season.

He's 13-6-4 with a 2.66 goals-against average and .905 save percentage for the Admirals. He also has two shutouts.

After Yaroslav was drafted, he was asked about his NHL goals.

"Be the greatest Russian goalie," he said through a translator. "No. 1 in the NHL."

On Thursday he stopped the first 14 shots he faced before the Canadiens tied the score during a 4-on-4 late in the first period. He finished with 31 saves. Cole Caufield scored a pair of power-play goals for Montreal.

"It's awesome," Askarov said through translator and teammate Yakov Trenin. "Yeah, we lost, but I'll remember this game forever.

"No words. Just so excited."

Nino Niederreiter, Filip Forsberg and Juuso Parssinen scored for the Predators. It was Forsberg's ninth goal in nine games and his team-best 18th of the season.

"Yarov played well," Predators coach John Hynes said. "We needed to play better in front of him. He was tested a lot. I give him a lot of credit."

The Predators are 19-16-6. The Canadiens are 17-22-3.

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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville Predators' 20-year-old goalie Yaroslav Askarov makes NHL debut