Ducks prospect Dostal shines in Gulls’ defeat AHL PLAYOFFS

The evolution of Lukas Dostal continued on Monday night in Bakersfield, where the 20-yearold goaltender took a few more giant strides in his burgeoning career during the San Diego Gulls’ 2-1 overtime loss to the Condors in the decisive Game 3 of their first-round AHL playoff series.

While his more heralded young teammates, Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale, struggled to fight through the Condors’ tight-checking, Dostal worked his magic to preserve a 1-1 tie and send the game to OT. He made 43 saves by game’s end, several of them spectacular.

Dostal couldn’t prevent Bakersfield’s Brad Malone from scoring the seriesclinching goal 7:36 into sudden-death OT, however. Malone capped a scramble in front of Dostal that enabled the Condors to rally to win in OT for the second consecutive game, after a 3-2 victory in Game 2.

Dostal stopped 116 of 124 shots during the series, cementing his status as the third goalie on the Ducks’ depth chart behind John Gibson and Anthony Stolarz going into training camp next September. Ryan Miller’s retirement created a vacancy and Dostal could fill it.

“The performance and his record speak for itself,” San Diego coach Kevin Dineen said of Dostal. “I think he was our top player by far in this playoff series. That was just over three games, but there was a lot of build-up (during the regular season) that went into that.”

Bakersfield advanced to face the Henderson (Nevada) Silver Knights for the Pacific Division championship.

The Gulls led by the end of the first period for the third consecutive game, this time by 1-0 after Andrew Agozzino converted after a Condors turnover 7:42 into the game. San Diego led 1-0 at the end of the first period in Game 1 and 2-1 in Game 2.