📸: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
Aliaksei Protas has put up a career-best performance this season, and now he’s added yet another milestone to his list of accolades. Protas earned his first NHL hat trick Tuesday night, notching nearly half of the Capitals’ goals in their 7-4 win over the Anaheim Ducks.
Hang onto those pucks, Pro! pic.twitter.com/jB58P5GNfM
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) March 12, 2025
After Protas tallied a pair of goals earlier in the night, captain Alex Ovechkin made sure he got another tally once the Ducks pulled goaltender Lukas Dostal. Though Ovechkin, just nine goals away from passing Wayne Gretzky, had a chance to score goal no. 887 on the empty net, he instead passed the puck to Protas so he could get his third of the game.
Ovechkin was even more enthusiastic than Protas after he scored, throwing his hands in the air as he skated towards the celebrations. He ended the night goalless but with a hat trick of assists, having already notched apples on first-period goals from Protas and Dylan Strome.
Not only did he get some hats thrown on the ice at Honda Center, Protas earned the Capitals’ player of the game chain after head coach Spencer Carbery’s postgame locker room speech.
“Thank you boys,” he told his teammates. “It’s pretty special for me, for my family. It’s all because of you guys. Proud to go out there with you every night.”
Protas became the third player in Capitals history to record his first hat trick in Anaheim. Ovechkin’s own first hat trick came against the then-Mighty Ducks on January 13, 2006, while Tom Wilson tallied three goals on the Ducks on November 30, 2023.
While his hat trick marked a major milestone, Aliaksei wasn’t the only one in his family to make the scoresheet Tuesday night. Capitals prospect Ilya Protas — who had been in DC over the weekend to watch his older brother play — notched a goal of his own in his first game back with the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires just hours before Aliaksei’s big game.
Postgame, Protas told Monumental Sports Network’s Al Koken that he wasn’t surprised Ovechkin gave away his chance at the goal, despite his record chase.
“We also know him [as an] unselfish player first and foremost,” Protas said. “He was so happy for me, maybe more happy than when he scores. It says a lot about him as a teammate, as a leader, as a captain, and that’s why we win. We’re happy for each other and we compete for each other.”
Protas has played no small part in the Capitals’ league-leading record this season. After scoring 53 points in his first three NHL seasons, he’s more than doubled his career total in just 65 games this year, with 58 points (28g, 30) already in 2024-25.
Carbery, who recently raved about Protas’ year after Sunday’s win over the Seattle Kraken, highlighted Protas’ second goal as a turning point in the night, regaining the lead just 31 seconds after Pavel Mintyukov had tied the game 3-3.
“Just the timeliness of — especially that goal, the third period is a good example of losing momentum, adversity,” Carbery said. “You could feel the tension in the game start to build. So we get the lead; we cough it up right away. So now all of a sudden we’ve lost momentum. Building comes alive.
“For them to score that next shift right there and him to finish in tight, that’s not an easy finish in there. You don’t have a lot of time. You’re in tight on top of the goaltender. That goaltender, he’s playing well this year. His numbers and all the analytics are as good as — he’s right up there. So for that finish right there, just the clutchness of that goal right there was a huge moment in the hockey game.”
With 17 games left, Protas ranks second on the Capitals in scoring, behind only Dylan Strome. He is now on pace for a 73-point season. And he doesn’t get power play time.
