Anaheim Ducks’ Lukáš Dostál ready for the moment in Stanley Cup playoffs: ‘He’s a gamer’ – The Athletic
IRVINE, Calif. — It isn’t the same thing, but it is what Lukáš Dostál has at his disposal to draw on.
When the Ducks take the ice Monday night for Game 1 against the Edmonton Oilers, Dostál will have Anaheim’s net. And he will hear it from a boisterous Rogers Place crowd. He’ll have to lock in amid the derisive chants directed his way. Now on the 25-year-old’s resume are world championships and the Olympics. But this will be his first Stanley Cup playoff game.
“There’s going to be a really good crowd in Edmonton, so I’m more like excited than to feel pressure,” Dostál said. “Because it’s that time of the year. You get a chance to play in the NHL playoffs. I’ve never really experienced it, so there’s definitely more of the excitement than the pressure.”
There was no great suspense to the inquiry of Dostál as the Game 1 starter. “Good question,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville quickly said, instantly adding, “Yes.”
And there is no doubt that the netminder from the small Czech village of Bedřichovice is their guy. Has been all season. Only six goalies made more starts than Dostál’s 55, six more than last season when he took the No. 1 role from John Gibson and became Anaheim’s lead backbone. A five-year extension with a $6.5 million average annual value inked last summer confirmed how the Ducks viewed him in their grand plan.
In his first season as the Ducks’ undisputed lead goalie, Dostál has given his team an uneven statistical profile. And the fact he didn’t have his best season brings some pause when it comes to dealing with the high-powered Oilers, who figure to be at full strength as Leon Draisaitl follows Zach Hyman back to a lineup that’s been carried by Connor McDavid to a strong finish, earning them home-ice advantage in the series.
Pressure will be on the Oilers to advance and go on another run to the Stanley Cup Final, giving McDavid a third opportunity to win an elusive title. Anything short of that won’t be accepted. But there will be plenty of pressure on Dostál, mostly applied by Edmonton’s twin superstars and their teammates, but also from within the goalie himself.
“There’s always some sort of pressure, right?” Dostál said. “Because obviously, ultimately, you want to win the series. You want to go as far as you can in the playoffs. It’s always a sense of pressure. Especially if you go down in the series, and you maybe lose some games.
“Personally, what I’m taking from my own experience, I just believe there’s only as much pressure as you really allow to yourself. That’s basically my mindset, that’s how I always operate.”
Monday night might be his first Stanley Cup playoff start, but Dostál has steadily built a catalog of big games. His greatest achievement to date came in May 2024 as he pitched three shutouts and posted a .939 save percentage over eight games in the world championships, leading his country to a gold medal. He blanked the United States in the quarterfinals and Switzerland for gold on home soil.
That and his work as a promising high-level No. 1 in the NHL made him Czechia’s choice as lead goalie for the Olympics. While the bid for gold ended with an overtime loss to Canada in the quarterfinals, Dostál gained more experience on a big stage.
It’s not as if he hasn’t faced McDavid and company before. He’s dealt with them 11 times in his five seasons. But this will be the first time he sees them game after game after game. Possibly seven times over the next two weeks.
“I had a chance to play in big games before, but this is obviously totally different because you get a chance to play the same team on multiple occasions,” Dostál said. “That’s definitely going to feel different. You’re going to try to expose them, they’re going to try to expose you. It’s going to be a little bit different compared to those games in the Olympics or the World Championships. It’s going to be a fun experience.”
The Ducks are the underdog in this series and that means they need Dostál to come up with stops in the clutch often. He had two starts against Edmonton during the season, stopping 22 of 27 shots in Anaheim’s 6-5 comeback win Feb. 25 and 30 of 33 shots in a 4-2 loss March 28.
What is also undisputed is how the Ducks feel about him. They’re not worried, even if his save percentage dropped to .888 this season or he made 2.9 fewer saves than the average goalie instead of the 14.3 more that he did in 2024-25.
“Since he’s been here, I think he’s developed a really good approach to the game,” Quenneville said. “Real good patience in net. Real consistent in his demeanor. Had a really strong year last year. Had a great start this year. I think everybody has moments where you’d like to be the best you can be. We know that goaltending gets scrutinized more than anywhere in any game or any sport. I think that it’s been a busy year for him, for us.
“I just like the way he approaches the game and (how) he presents himself. Gives him a chance to be as good as he can every single day that he goes on the ice or we’re (in a) meeting or whatever. He absorbs a lot, he’s a thinker, and finding that balance going into the playoffs can help us.”
In his days with the New York Rangers, Chris Kreider played with Henrik Lundqvist and Igor Shesterkin, Vezina Trophy-winning goalies who are and were among the very best in the game. Kreider knows the feeling of hitting the ice without any concern over his netminder.
It is a feeling you especially want in the heat of the postseason.
“I feel like I’ve been very lucky in my entire pro career to have that,” Kreider said. “The best player most nights is your goaltender. It gives you a ton of confidence.”
The thing that has given Kreider unshakable faith in Dostál is the goalie’s steady approach and consistency that he brings to the job.
“We’re confident in him and his ability to get the job done,” the veteran left wing, in his first season with Anaheim, said. “To make the big save in a big moment. He’s a gamer. That’s for sure.”
Quenneville remembers having Patrick Roy as perhaps the ultimate money goalie in the playoffs during his time as an assistant to Marc Crawford on the Cup-winning Colorado Avalanche in 1996. But when he led the Chicago Blackhawks, Quenneville had Antti Niemi and Corey Crawford as his netminders for his first two title-winning clubs. Neither was brimming with loads of playoff experience.
“It’s something that you learn,” the 67-year-old Quenneville said. “You’re gonna have some highs and lows.”
And that is what Dostál is about to find out. But that’s part of the journey he’s eager to go on.
“Obviously there have been some ups and downs,” he said. “I felt like some of the games could have been better. That’s basically what happens to everyone. But I feel like I’m in a really, really good spot right now. I really trust myself. Honestly.
“Eighty-two games are done and now obviously the new season is going to start, so that’s what’s going to matter.”
