{"id":578958,"date":"2026-04-12T01:57:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T01:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/578958\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T01:57:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T01:57:13","slug":"caps-beat-penguins-6-3-to-stay-alive-in-ilya-protass-statement-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/578958\/","title":{"rendered":"Caps beat Penguins 6-3 to stay alive in Ilya Protas\u2019s statement game"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"WSH
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ud83d\udcf8: Late Stage Capitals from #crashers<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The Washington Capitals needed that win over the Pittsburgh Penguins so badly. In a Saturday afternoon roadie, the Caps grabbed a lead and steadily grew it \u2013 powered by exciting new Caps players.<\/p>\n

It was a quiet first period as both teams colluded to lull us into a false sense of security only to unleash Lolth-tier chaos in the second.<\/p>\n

You know what? Let\u2019s go crazy. Second-period goals as an ordered list. Unprecedented.<\/p>\n

Aliaksei Protas got the second backdoor chance with help from his little, larger brother.
\nAnthony Mantha got a revenge goal, going five-hole for his 32nd of the season.
\nRyan Leonard crashed the net. Arturs Silovs stopped it but his glove crossed the goal line.
\nTom Wilson finished a series started by Ilya Protas\u2019 confident puck-carrying.
\nNoel Acciari seized on a loose puck to bring the Penguins within one.
\nLane Hutson drives to the net and Ryan Leonard cleans it up.
\nKevin Hayes beats Logan Thompson after departing the discipline domain.<\/p>\n

That was all in 40 minutes. 4-3 score with 20 to go. Fun continued in the third. Ilya Protas scored his first NHL goal on the power play. Logan Thompson stopped Anthony Mantha\u2019s penalty shot.<\/p>\n

Alex Ovechkin got an empty netter.<\/p>\n

Caps win!<\/p>\n

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Sidney Crosby did not play, along with Malkin and Letang. The Penguins say Crosby\u2019s got a lower-body injury. It seems more like they\u2019re resting him for the playoffs. I\u2019d bet they just wanted to avoid a back-to-back weekend, so he may play tomorrow.
\nPierre-Luc Dubois left the game two shifts into the second period after crashing into the boards. He did not return.
\nRasmus Sandin suffered a significant injury after absorbing a hip check (and probably an uncalled interference) from Justin Brazeau. The way his leg rag-dolled, my mind immediately went to \u201csomething collateral ligament.\u201d Sandin looked like he was in agony and got lifted off the ice by a large Belarusian.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think the perpetrator of that hit, Brazeau, had any malevolence in it. But he should have been smarter on the next shift, when the refs were already looking for a make-up call, especially from him. He gave them a gimme.
\nOn the ensuing power play, giant baby (laudatory) Ilya Protas scored his first NHL goal, getting Hutson\u2019s rebound.<\/p>\n

Just saying: Ovechkin, dutiful grandpa, immediately nabbed that soon-to-be commemorative puck.
\nAs a reclamation project, Anthony Mantha has been a rousing success for Pittsburgh. He scored his 32nd goal of the season today, just as Chris and Dani said he would<\/a>. Mantha lost on his penalty-shot attempt, but he\u2019d still be leading the Caps in goals if he were on the roster.
\nWith two goals today, one from five feet out, the other from seven feet out, Ryan Leonard has hit the 20-goal milestone in his rookie season. He\u2019s the fourth such player this season \u2013 behind Matthew Schaefer, Beckett Sennecke, and Oliver Kapanen \u2013 three, um, very different players. The only other Caps rookie to hit 20 goals in the last couple decades is Alex Ovechkin. I really love Leonard\u2019s willingness to go to the paint, which is a good complement for a team that takes a lot of shots from above the circles.
\nI don\u2019t understand why the Pens pulled the goalie so early. And I\u2019m one of those \u201cpull the goalie earlier\u201d sickos.<\/p>\n

With an important regulation win, the Caps sit at 91 points. Their ceiling is 95. That\u2019s enough to make the playoffs 75 percent of the time, but in a weird season like this, it\u2019s going to be less. We\u2019re going to be following every Flyers game from here on out. They\u2019re the target \u2013 the Metro is the only path to the loffs.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll see the Penguins again in less than 24 hours. At home. I\u2019d bet Sid\u2019s there. It\u2019ll be a big game. It might be historic. Can\u2019t miss. Must win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\ud83d\udcf8: Late Stage Capitals from #crashers The Washington Capitals needed that win over the Pittsburgh Penguins so badly.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":578959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-578958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}