Aliaksei Protas gets first NHL hat trick, Alex Ovechkin has 3 assists as Capitals defeat Ducks 7-4

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- — Aliaksei Protas had the first hat trick of his NHL career, Alex Ovechkin and Pierre-Luc Dubois each had three points and the Washington Capitals extended their winning streak to five, defeating the Anaheim Ducks 7-4 on Tuesday night.

The game was tied at 4-all 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.

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.

Dylan Strome added a goal and Logan Thompson stopped 25 shots. Tom Wilson and Brandon Duhaime both had two assists.

Anaheim's Frank Vatrano, Drew Helleson and Pavel Mintyukov each had a goal and an assist. Jacob Trouba also scored and Lukas Dostal made 36 saves.

Takeaways

Capitals: Washington has scored seven goals in a game for the sixth time this season, the most in the league.

Ducks: Rookie Sam Colangelo had his four-game goal streak snapped.

Key moment

Trouba tied it at 1-all 4:51 into the first period and snapped a 94-game goal drought. It was also Trouba's first goal with the Ducks. The defenseman's last goal before Tuesday was for the New York Rangers on Jan. 4, 2024, against Chicago.

Key stat

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.

Up next

The Capitals remain in Southern California to face Los Angeles on Thursday while Anaheim is at Utah on Wednesday.

------

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl