WASHINGTON, DC — Aliaksei Protas scored the game-winning goal Tuesday against the New York Rangers, but that arguably wasn’t even his biggest moment of the night.
After Protas broke his stick during a Capitals’ penalty kill, a failed Rangers pass sent the puck into the neutral zone. Protas, undeterred, burst after it and beat defenseman Adam Fox in a foot race for a breakaway. Still without a stick, Protas flew past the bench with speed, grabbed a twig from the Capitals’ bench, kicked the puck to himself, and made a shot on Igor Shesterkin.
Shesterkin may have made the save, but the play was still one for the highlight reels.
“I think the roof in the building would have came off [if he scored],” said Connor McMichael postgame. “It was pretty electric.”
Postgame, Protas said that if the Caps had scored on that sequence, he’d be ready to hang up his skates. He later learned that McMichael was behind him waiting for a pass, but by the tail end of a 1:24 shift, he could barely skate, yet alone think.
“That would be funny. I was coming off the bench and Mikey told me ‘I was coming behind,’ like are you serious? I couldn’t even breathe over there,” he said with a grin. “You want me to look behind and look for a pass? I mean if I make the pass I’ll maybe retire after that.”
Head coach Spencer Carbery, too, could hardly imagine the response if Shesterkin hadn’t made the save.
“That play would have been…” Carbery said, shaking his head, “because of the shift that went on and you watch it — he’s got no stick, we’re penalty killing, we’re hanging on by a thread. And then all of a sudden we get a break and he’s getting [a new stick.]
“Oh my gosh. If he scores there, that is going down as just an unbelievable — the whole sequence.”
According to Protas, his shot might have hit paydirt if he’d had his usual twig. Turns out that in the heat of the moment, there wasn’t time for the team’s equipment staff to grab one of Protas’ sticks, so teammate Dylan Strome handed over one of his own — and the replacement wasn’t quite as long as the 6’6” Protas was used to.
“That short,” he said, gesturing the length of the stick. “That was fun, yeah.”
“It looked like a mini stick in his hands,” McMichael joked. “I mean, yeah, maybe if they grabbed his stick, he would have found a way to put it home.”
Protas still made a splash on the scoresheet, even without what could have been the flashiest goal of his career. He ended the game with three points (1g, 2a) — the most of any player on the ice — and now has a total of seven points (2g, 5a) in eight games this season.
What an effort from Pro here pic.twitter.com/gvQwcccJym
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 30, 2024
