Ilya Protas had a night to remember at Giant Center.
The Younger Pro notched his first AHL point in the first period and scored his first AHL goal in the third, completing the first multi-point game of his professional career in a 5-1 victory over the Springfield Thunderbirds.
Protas’s first AHL point came on a great individual play with 43 seconds remaining in the first period.
Hustling on the forecheck, Protas forced Thunderbirds defenseman Theo Lindstein to turn the puck over, who sent an off-target pass off the side of the net. The 19-year-old Belarusian centerman then picked up the loose puck and set up Patrick Thomas for his first AHL goal.
Protas scored his own milestone tally with 1:32 remaining in regulation, as he closed out the game with Bogdan Trineyev and Henrik Rybinski.
After Trineyev missed on an empty-net chance, the Russian forward dug the puck out of the corner boards and found Rybinski, who immediately dished to Protas between the circles. Little Pro made no mistake and buried the puck into the yawning cage, giving Hershey a 4-1 lead.
Ryan Chesley added a buzzer-beating empty-net goal of his own from about 200 feet away in the defensive zone to seal the game, 5-1, giving Derek King his first victory as Bears’ head coach. Thomas’s goal, which Protas created and assisted on, wound up being the game-winner.
“They don’t ask how,” Aliaksei Protas said on Instagram. “Congrats brother!”
After an encouraging first two games with Hershey, Protas came out flying on Saturday and was dangerous during almost every shift he took. Not only did the 6-foot-6 pivot finish the night with two points, but he also had four shots on goal — second-most amongst all Bears players — and was a plus-two.
