Normally, goals inspire good feelings, but that was not the case for Cole Hutson last night against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
With 3:50 remaining in regulation, the Washington Capitals’ rookie defenseman took a pass from Aliaksei Protas on a two-on-one, with Ilya Protas trailing the play, and sent the puck into Toronto’s empty net. The goal put the Capitals up 4-0 and was Hutson’s third since joining the team last month out of college.
Little Pro, who was making his NHL debut and registered a secondary assist on the play, his first NHL point, was the first to arrive in the goal hug as his older brother Aliaksei fished the milestone puck out of the cage. As Big Pro and Tom Wilson skated over, they appeared to say something to Hutson, who then immediately put his glove over his face in embarrassment as if he had made a grave mistake.
After taking a second to gather himself, Hutson skated over to Ilya and said something, perhaps an apology. Ilya then pushed Hutson on the left shoulder towards the Capitals bench to go first through the fist-bump line.
What likely caused Hutson’s embarrassment was that he either didn’t know Ilya was on the ice or that he was trailing the play. If Hutson had passed, Little Pro could have potentially scored his first NHL goal in his first NHL game, and Hutson could have repaid the favor that Connor McMichael did for him on March 19.
In his own NHL debut, Hutson found himself on a two-on-one break with Connor McMichael and an empty net yawning. McMichael started pointing emphatically at the net, telling Hutson to shoot. Hutson would end up firing the puck on net, hitting the milestone.
“You only get one chance to score in your first NHL game, so it’s definitely a moment that he’ll remember a lot more than me,” McMichael said postgame.
Ilya missed out on that opportunity, but he did end up assisting on the same goal as his older brother, which might be even cooler anyway.
