IRVINE, Calif. \u2014 It isn\u2019t the same thing, but it is what Luk\u00e1\u0161 Dost\u00e1l has at his disposal to draw on.<\/p>\n
When the Ducks take the ice Monday night for Game 1 against the Edmonton Oilers, Dost\u00e1l will have Anaheim\u2019s net. And he will hear it from a boisterous Rogers Place crowd. He\u2019ll have to lock in amid the derisive chants directed his way. Now on the 25-year-old\u2019s resume are world championships and the Olympics. But this will be his first Stanley Cup playoff game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s going to be a really good crowd in Edmonton, so I\u2019m more like excited than to feel pressure,\u201d Dost\u00e1l said. \u201cBecause it\u2019s that time of the year. You get a chance to play in the NHL playoffs. I\u2019ve never really experienced it, so there\u2019s definitely more of the excitement than the pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n
There was no great suspense to the inquiry of Dost\u00e1l as the Game 1 starter. \u201cGood question,\u201d Ducks coach Joel Quenneville quickly said, instantly adding, \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
And there is no doubt that the netminder from the small Czech village of Bed\u0159ichovice is their guy. Has been all season. Only six goalies made more starts than Dost\u00e1l\u2019s 55, six more than last season when he took the No. 1 role from John Gibson and became Anaheim\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
In his first season as the Ducks\u2019 undisputed lead goalie, Dost\u00e1l has given his team an uneven statistical profile. And the fact he didn\u2019t 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\u2019s been carried by Connor McDavid to a strong finish, earning them home-ice advantage in the series.<\/p>\n
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\u2019t be accepted. But there will be plenty of pressure on Dost\u00e1l, mostly applied by Edmonton\u2019s twin superstars and their teammates, but also from within the goalie himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s always some sort of pressure, right?\u201d Dost\u00e1l said. \u201cBecause obviously, ultimately, you want to win the series. You want to go as far as you can in the playoffs. It\u2019s always a sense of pressure. Especially if you go down in the series, and you maybe lose some games.<\/p>\n
\u201cPersonally, what I\u2019m taking from my own experience, I just believe there\u2019s only as much pressure as you really allow to yourself. That\u2019s basically my mindset, that\u2019s how I always operate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Monday night might be his first Stanley Cup playoff start, but Dost\u00e1l 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.<\/p>\n
That and his work as a promising high-level No. 1 in the NHL made him Czechia\u2019s choice as lead goalie for the Olympics. While the bid for gold ended with an overtime loss to Canada in the quarterfinals, Dost\u00e1l gained more experience on a big stage.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not as if he hasn\u2019t faced McDavid and company before. He\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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,\u201d Dost\u00e1l said. \u201cThat\u2019s definitely going to feel different. You\u2019re going to try to expose them, they\u2019re going to try to expose you. It\u2019s going to be a little bit different compared to those games in the Olympics or the World Championships. It\u2019s going to be a fun experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Ducks are the underdog in this series and that means they need Dost\u00e1l 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\u2019s 6-5 comeback win Feb. 25 and 30 of 33 shots in a 4-2 loss March 28.<\/p>\n
What is also undisputed is how the Ducks feel about him. They\u2019re 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince he\u2019s been here, I think he\u2019s developed a really good approach to the game,\u201d Quenneville said. \u201cReal 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\u2019d 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\u2019s been a busy year for him, for us.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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\u2019re (in a) meeting or whatever. He absorbs a lot, he\u2019s a thinker, and finding that balance going into the playoffs can help us.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
It is a feeling you especially want in the heat of the postseason.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I\u2019ve been very lucky in my entire pro career to have that,\u201d Kreider said. \u201cThe best player most nights is your goaltender. It gives you a ton of confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
The thing that has given Kreider unshakable faith in Dost\u00e1l is the goalie\u2019s steady approach and consistency that he brings to the job.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re confident in him and his ability to get the job done,\u201d the veteran left wing, in his first season with Anaheim, said. \u201cTo make the big save in a big moment. He\u2019s a gamer. That\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something that you learn,\u201d the 67-year-old Quenneville said. \u201cYou\u2019re gonna have some highs and lows.\u201d<\/p>\n
And that is what Dost\u00e1l is about to find out. But that\u2019s part of the journey he\u2019s eager to go on.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously there have been some ups and downs,\u201d he said. \u201cI felt like some of the games could have been better. That\u2019s basically what happens to everyone. But I feel like I\u2019m in a really, really good spot right now. I really trust myself. Honestly.<\/p>\n
\u201cEighty-two games are done and now obviously the new season is going to start, so that\u2019s what\u2019s going to matter.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"IRVINE, Calif. \u2014 It isn\u2019t the same thing, but it is what Luk\u00e1\u0161 Dost\u00e1l has at his disposal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":556061,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5125],"tags":[233,198,146,5300,5,4,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-556060","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edmonton-oilers","8":"tag-anaheim-ducks","9":"tag-edmonton","10":"tag-edmonton-oilers","11":"tag-edmontonoilers","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-oilers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116431867353668243","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/556061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}