Aliaksei Protas easily earns MVP against Oilers

The Washington Capitals got a win over the Edmonton Oilers and Aliaksei Protas played his best game of the season.

Don’t take it from me though. Capitals bench boss Peter Laviolette even said so saying, “It might have been Pro’s best game as a Washington Capital.”

Protas shut down the Oilers top line with his tenacious defense. He also had a team first mentality late in the game. The 21 year old had his second breakaway of the night and he cashed in.

No he didn’t score. He did have a chance to push the puck through but instead he passed it to a charging Nic Dowd to set him up with the eventual game winning goal.

Protas finished with one assist and had a plus one along with two shots on goal, a hit, and one blocked shot while averaging 10:05 minutes of ice time.

His assist was his second assist of the season and also marked his first career point against the Oilers.

Protas talked about his big set up that came out to be the game winning goal:

“No, he wasn’t calling for that, but breakaway, I don’t need that, I will just drop it to Nic. I saw him and knew he was comin and knew he was going to help me out there.”

According to Luke Adomanis over at Japers’ Rink, over the last two seasons with the Caps, Protas is first in Corsi For percentage, Scoring Chances For percentage, High Danger Chances For percentage, and Expected Goals For percentage.

Adomanis also tweeted, “He’s only 21 so he’s just going to get better. There’s definitely more offense in his game he can unlock. He was a beast in juniors.”

Protas may be just 21 but he’s a big dude listed as six foot six and 225 pounds. If he can play more games like he did last night, the goals will come quickly.