Aliacsei Protas had the first hat trick of an NHL career. Alex Ovechkin and Pierre Look Dubois each scored three points.
Ovechkin has nine goals left to pass Wayne Gretzky’s NHL career mark 894, but has three assists. DuBois had a goal and two assists.
Anaheim’s Frank Vatrano, Drew Helleson and Pavel Mintyukov each had goals and assists. Jacob Truba scored his first goal as a duck, finishing a 94-game drought overall. The defender’s final goal before Tuesday was to the New York Rangers’ Chicago on January 4, 2024.
Vatrano won his third 20-goal season in straight sets.
The score tied 4-4 before the Capitals scored three times in the final 6:35. Nic Dowd had a Go-Ard goal at 13:25. Anthony Beauvillier completed a hat-trick with 1:36 left in Washington, a fifth multi-goal effort in the final 37 games, with Protas completing a hat-trick with an empty net goal with 17 seconds left.
Dylan Strom added a goal and Logan Thompson stopped 25 shots. Tom Wilson and Brandon Duheim both had two assists.
Duck rookie Sam Colangelo has finished the four-game goalsleak.
On the Bobblehead night, Leo Carlson assisted Helleson’s goal in the first period, passing Trevor Zegrass at the third point by a duck player under the age of 20. Carlson, the second overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, has 58 points (26 goals, 32 assists) in 81 games.
The capital will face the King on Thursday, and the duck will be in Utah on Wednesday.
