Ducks' Dostal and Gudas faced Canada's might in Olympic hockey, while LaCombe was scratched for USA's opener.
Four games took the stage on day two of the 2026 Winter Olympic men’s hockey tournament. Two members of the Anaheim Ducks took the ice on the grandest stage of the sport, Radko Gudas and Lukas Dostal, while one served as a healthy scratch for his team, Jackson LaCombe.
Lukas Dostal (Czechia vs. Canada)
Czechia: 0, Canada: 5
Dostal got the nod to open the tournament in net for his native Czechia against gold medal favorite Canada. It was a tall task for the still-emerging 25-year-old, but he’d had recent success at the international level, backstopping Czechia to a gold medal on home soil at the 2024 World Championships.
This was Czechia’s first leg of a back-to-back, and it was by far their more challenging of the two, as they’re slated to take on France tomorrow. From both a scoring and shots-on-goal perspective, Czechia kept this game close through the first two periods, but Canada’s unrelenting offensive firepower was too much for Dostal and the Czechs.
Had Dostal been spectacular, superhuman even, Czechia still would have lost this game. He still performed well, making the saves he was supposed to, but merely a good Dostal performance was enough margin for Canada to take advantage.
Dostal played a typical game that Ducks supporters and spectators have become accustomed to. He was steady and calm during flurries, and his game management skills were on display, as he often elected to freeze pucks when Canada had extended zone time. That aspect of game management, compounded with his ability to control rebounds, often deflecting perimeter shots to the safety of the netting, gave his teammates much-needed reprieve when the opportunity presented itself.
None of the five goals allowed by Dostal can be earnestly pinned on him. He let in two goals off deflections, a breakaway, a 2v1, and on a penalty kill against Canada’s otherworldly power play unit, where they outnumbered Radko Gudas low for a vicious Crosby-McDavid-MacKinnon connection.
At the game’s conclusion, Dostal had stopped 31 of the 36 shots he faced.
Radko Gudas (Czechia vs. Canada)
Czechia: 0, Canada: 5
Ducks captain and right-shot defenseman Radko Gudas was awarded the honor of wearing the “A” for Czechia at his second career Olympic Games. He was listed on the team’s second pair with former NHL defenseman Michal Kempny.
Gudas, whether tasked by the Czech coaching staff or himself, was noticeably intent on setting a physical tone against Canada’s star power, particularly in the neutral zone and in front of Dostal.
He was eager to engage Canada’s lethal rush attack, and despite coming close to taking himself out of plays and out of position, he was relatively selective, as a miscalculation could have led to waves of activating attackers manufacturing odd-man rushes at will.
He was featured on Czechia’s top penalty kill unit, and performed as well as he could against the lethality of their top unit. As the game wore on, his lack of mobility became more noticeable, and he was rendered relatively stationary so as not to surrender angles and positioning. With the puck on his stick, he played a straightforward brand, as he’s one to do, and he made simple outlets, chips, and flips from his side of the defensive blueline.
Gudas’ final stat line read that he finished scoreless and contributed two shots on goal in 18:06 TOI, fifth among Czechia defenders.
Czechia will be back in action tomorrow, as they’ll play their second game in as many days against France.