The Washington Capitals kept things rolling on the road last night, taking the victory in a low-scoring battle against the Blue Jackets. So how did they do it?
Aliaksei Protas. That’s how.
…okay and also a lot of Charlie Lindgren being awesome and the team having a generally decent outing around him and all of that. But let’s talk about Pro.
First there was the goal to get his team on the board, just 31 seconds into the third period. As we noted last night, it was a huge moment in the game, as the Caps to that point had been thwarted time and time again by the Jackets’ third-string goalie, Jet Greaves – something that can frustrate most teams, but the Caps stuck with it and got rewarded early on in the frame.
The Caps’ first offensive push after the puck dropped on the period was sent back out to center ice, but it didn’t take long for them to rev it up again, Jakob Chychrun quickly kicking off the rush with a pass up ice to Protas. Protas bumped it to Pierre-Luc Dubois, who carried it into the zone and then sent a beauty of a pass back to Protas in the slot – and just like that it was a new game:
The two teams held serve for the remainder of regulation, and then it was the Blue Jackets carrying the play for roughly the first 90 seconds of overtime…until the Caps finally got control of the puck. They didn’t let go until it was in the back of the net, showing incredible patience before setting up the play that would end the game and secure the extra point.
This time it was Dylan Strome finding Protas, who made no mistake picking up the first OT GWG of his career:
