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Ducks fade late in loss to league-leading Capitals

March 12, 2025

ANAHEIM — The Ducks stepped into the ring with one of the NHL’s best and biggest teams and proved once again they could now go blow-for-blow with the heavyweights, though at the end of the night, they were the ones on the mat.

They fell to the Washington Capitals, 7-4, on Tuesday night at Honda Center in a seesaw affair that became the Caps’ fifth straight win, keeping them in a points tie with the Winnipeg Jets in the Presidents’ Trophy race.

Drew Helleson, Pavel Mintyukov and Frank Vatrano notched a goal and an assist apiece for the Ducks. Jacob Trouba also scored. Lukáš Dostál made 36 saves.

Washington’s Aliaksei Protas continued his breakout season with a hat trick. Former King Pierre-Luc Dubois had a goal and two assists. Dylan Strome, Nic Dowd and Anthony Beauvillier also scored. Alex Ovechkin didn’t add to his hot pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s career NHL goals record (he remains nine goals from passing Gretzky’s mark of 894), but he did chip in three assists. Tom Wilson and Brandon Duhaime each contributed two helpers. Logan Thompson stopped 25 shots.

“If it was a fight, both teams were punching in the third period, back and forth, it was actually a really entertaining game to watch,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin said. “I’m sure the fans enjoyed it, but we have to learn from [it].”

The final frame was a thriller with six total goals scored.

Before Protas deposited his empty-netter, Beauvillier had iced the victory for Washington by way of his goal with 1:36 to play, with the outcome in question to that point.

Dowd had put the Capitals ahead after Leo Carlsson’s missed connection with Trouba in the neutral zone created an odd-man-rush goal, and a game-winner, for the Caps at 13:25.

“The winning goal was on a turnover, and it was needless, we just should have moved the puck forward and put it deep. We had momentum,” Cronin said.

Vatrano had knotted the score with a short-side snipe, 6:18 into the third period, giving him his third consecutive 20-goal season.

Early on, the two sides exchanged goals in a 28-second span between Mintyukov’s flinger from the blue line at 4:26 for the Ducks and Protas’ second goal of the night at 4:54. He was left unattended on the doorstep after cruising past a stationary Alex Killorn.

The middle frame saw the Capitals maintain territorial control and establish it on the scoreboard with the period’s only goal.

It could have been worse for the hosts, but Dostál stood tall and, at times, on his head. He was “terrific,” Cronin said.

He made a glove save on Taylor Raddysh’s against-the grain shot, marked for one post as Dostál moved toward the other. His full, desperate extension allowed him to knock the puck down with his glove. He had robbed Raddysh in the first period as well on a deft deflection that defined high-danger.

Cronin said the second period was when the Capitals’ easily-identified advantages in size and experience shined through, and that he was proud of his team’s response in that third as a result.

“In the second period, they got it deep and they pinned us in our zone. They’re physical and they’re strong and they’re all connected,” Cronin said. “They let the puck do the work most of the time, then they barrel their way to the net, and they challenge your will to compete.”

Dubois’ go-ahead goal and three-point showing hastened a scoring pace that already had him on track for a career high after enduring his worst campaign in the NHL a year ago with the Kings. After being buried behind the net by Radko Gudas and Sam Colangelo, Dubois rose to his feet, circled in front and tipped the shot of another former King, Matt Roy, in for a goal.

“It was fun, a lot of back and forth, and I thought a lot of guys played well. There’s 2-1 tight games, and then there’s [7-4] tight games,” Dubois said.

The Capitals played imposingly for much of the first period, accumulating a 19-8 advantage in shots on goal. But a swarming swath of the first 20 minutes got the Ducks through them tied, 2-2, with each team holding a lead early.

With 1:46 showing on the clock, the Capitals tied the score after Dubois won a faceoff, leading to an Ovechkin shot attempt that was blocked by the foot of Radko Gudas. Gudas went to the ice in pain, at which point Protas pounced and rifled a shot past Dostál.

The Ducks had gone up 2-1 on Helleson’s fourth goal of the season, half of which have come in the past two games, a kneeling one-timer at the 5:20 mark.

They had equalized behind Trouba’s first goal as a Duck. Troy Terry navigated the neutral zone and later received the puck back below the goal line from Frank Vatrano. Terry spotted Trouba between the hash marks for a shot and then a follow-up bid, 29 seconds before Helleson’s goal.

“We had spurts where we were playing good, but for the most part I don’t think we had our best game, and we still hung with the best team in the league,” Helleson said. “That shows confidence. But there’s no moral wins, because points are huge at this time of year.”

Strome, the brother of Ducks center Ryan Strome, got the puck rolling with a goal just 2:07 after the opening faceoff. Ovechkin’s outlet for Wilson created a two-on-two rush with the Ducks scrambling and Strome skating past the mark of Trevor Zegras.

The Ducks will go from the throwers to the sprinters, in track-and-field terms, as they traveled Tuesday night for Wednesday’s meeting with speedy Utah HC in Salt Lake City.

Orange County Register

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Ducks fade late in loss to league-leading Capitals

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