Aliaksei Protas had the first hat trick of his NHL career and Alex Ovechkin and Pierre-Luc Dubois each had three points as the Washington Capitals extended their winning streak to five, defeating the Ducks 7-4 on Tuesday night.
Ovechkin remains nine goals from passing Wayne Gretzky’s NHL career mark of 894 but had three assists. Dubois had a goal and two assists.
Anaheim’s Frank Vatrano, Drew Helleson and Pavel Mintyukov each had a goal and an assist. Jacob Trouba scored his first goal as a Duck, ending a 94-game drought overall, when he tied it 1-1 just 4:51 into the first period. The defenseman’s last goal before Tuesday was for the New York Rangers on Jan. 4, 2024, against Chicago.
Vatrano clinched his third straight 20-goal season.
The score was tied at 4-4 before the Capitals scored three times in the final 6:35. Nic Dowd had the go-ahead goal at 13:25. Anthony Beauvillier gave Washington some breathing room with 1:36 remaining before Protas — who has fifth multi-goal effort in his last 37 games — completed the hat trick with an empty-net goal with 17 seconds left.
Dylan Strome added a goal and Logan Thompson stopped 25 shots. Tom Wilson and Brandon Duhaime both had two assists.
Ducks rookie Sam Colangelo had his four-game goal streak end.
On his bobblehead night, Leo Carlsson had an assist on Helleson’s goal in the first period and passed Trevor Zegras for the third most points by a Ducks player age 20 or younger. Carlsson, the second overall pick in the 2023 NHL draft, has 58 points (26 goals, 32 assists) in 81 games.
The Capitals face the Kings on Thursday while the Ducks are at Utah on Wednesday.
