Aliaksei Protas continued a spectacular season with his first career NHL hat trick on Tuesday night in Anaheim, singlehandedly supplying the difference as the Caps downed the Ducks by a 7-4 count on Tuesday night at Honda Center.
Protas was far from the only offensive hero on this night; P-L Dubois (goal, two assists) and Alex Ovechkin (three assists) also enjoyed three-point nights, and 13 of Washington’s 18 skaters picked up at least a point in the contest.
Ovechkin unselfishly fed Protas for a late empty-net goal to complete the hat trick, but the big forward’s first two goals were big ones. The first one tied the game late in the first period, and the second one came 31 seconds after Anaheim tied the game at 4-4 early in the third period.
“It was in the WHL, in Edmonton,” says Protas, asked about his most recent hat trick before Tuesday’s. “I believe it was in 2019, sometime around the beginning of May.
Tuesday’s win is the Caps’ fifth in succession, and it came in an entertaining, high-paced and high-event hokey game, the opener of a three-game California trip.
“I thought it was a great hockey game,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery. “Like, that was fast. The pace was up in the first period; you could feel it right away. It didn’t catch us off guard; in that first period we did some really good things, and then they got us on our heels. And so you could feel it right away, that it was going to be a highly competitive game. I liked a lot of the things we did tonight.”
Plagued by slow starts of late, Washington wasted little time in getting started offensively. Dylan Strome won a defensive zone draw, and Alex Ovechkin collected the puck and sent Tom Wilson moving north with it. Upon gaining the Anaheim line, Wilson head-manned to Strome, who put a backhander to the shelf for a 1-0 Washington lead at 2:07. Strome’s 20th goal of the season came just nine seconds after he won that face-off in his own end of the ice.
The resurgent Ducks answered back quickly with a pair of goals to take a 2-1 lead. First, blueliner Jacob Trouba migrated to the slot and fired the puck hard off the lively backboards at Honda Center. The puck came right back to him, and he put it behind Washington’s Logan Thompson to make it a 1-1 game at 4:51.
Twenty-nine seconds later and on their very next shot on net, the Ducks grabbed a 2-1 lead when Drew Helleson’s shot from the right point – and around a tangle of bodies and sticks – found purchase behind Thompson at 5:20.
Late in the first, the Caps squared the score seconds after another face-off win, this one in the offensive zone and in the immediate aftermath of a television timeout. P-L Dubois won the draw to Ovechkin, whose shot was blocked by former teammate Radko Gudas. But Protas found and buried it at 18:14, a mere three seconds after the draw.
Dubois netted the lone goal of the second period at 5:19 when he stealthily snuck to the back door and tapped home an expertly executed slap pass from Matt Roy, as the two former Kings combined to stick it to a one-time rival.
Early in the third, Anaheim drew even on its third straight goal from a defenseman, this one a point shot from Pavel Mintyukov at 4:26. Protas restored the lead soon after, banking a shot from the slot off the inside of the left pipe and in to make it a 4-3 contest.
Dubois made a boss play along the wall near the Anaheim line to set up the second Protas goal, and the big pivot reached the 40-assist mark for the first time in his NHL career in the process.
“I’m liking the guys I’m playing with, that’s for sure.,” smiles Dubois. “Whether it’s Pro and [Connor McMichael], whether it’s whoever it’s been this year – even the [defensemen] actually, [Jakob Chychrun] and those guys. It’s been fun to be on this team. And they’ve helped me a lot throughout the season; they keep helping me. It just makes my life easier, as I just have to do my job and I know they’ll do theirs.”
But the plucky Ducks were a handful all night, and they again responded. Just 81 seconds after the second Protas goal, Frank Vatrano displayed his lethal shot, taking a feed from Ryan Strome and drilling it to the twine at 6:18.
With the game hanging in the balance, and with both sides getting their chances, Thompson did what he has done all season, which is to refuse to give up a late goal that would put his team behind. The patient Caps waited for a mistake, and they pounced.
Anaheim turned it over in neutral ice, and Brandon Duhaime made a nifty feed to send Wilson into the zone on the left side. Lukas Dostal stopped but was unable to secure Wilson’s shot, and Nic Dowd went to the net and tucked the rebound for a 5-4 Washington lead with 6:35 left.
Dowd’s goal was the game-winner.
“I think we were able to turn the puck over in the neutral zone, and I’m actually not really exactly how that happened,” recounts Dowd. “But we turned it over, and then Dewey made a really nice play to Willie underneath a guy’s stick; kind of put Willie in on a little bit of a break. And I just tried to follow it up. And I was expecting a high glove shot from him; he usually scores from spot, so it just bounced to me, and I was fortunate enough to just react.”
In the game’s penultimate minute, Anthony Beauvillier executed a swipe and snipe for his first goal as a member of the Capitals. Beauvillier stripped Mintyukov in neutral ice, turned on the jets, and tucked a backhander under the bar with 1:36 left.
That goal set the stage for Ovechkin and Protas to each collect their third point of the game.
“I just saw the eye contact with Ovi,” says Protas of the hat trick goal in the waning seconds. “And with an unreal accomplishment coming up, he makes that play and how happy he is for me, that says everything about him as a teammate, and I’m happy to get it.”
