Recap: Ducks Can't Hold Off Caps in Third Period, Fall 7-4 in Homestand Finale

The Ducks twice rallied from a third-period deficit but could not complete the comeback tonight in a 7-4 loss to the NHL-leading Washington Capitals at Honda Center.

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The loss dropped Anaheim to 28-29-7 on the season and 15-15-2 on home ice. The Ducks remain seven points back of the Western Conference's final Wild Card position.

Drew Helleson, Pavel Mintyukov and Frank Vatrano led Anaheim offensively with a goal and an assist apiece, as the Ducks have now scored at least three goals in eight of 10 games since returning from the 4 Nations Face-Off break. Jacob Trouba netted his first goal as a Duck, while Trevor Zegras, Ryan Strome, Leo Carlsson, Troy Terry and Cutter Gauthier added assists.

Lukas Dostal made 35 saves in his 37th start of the season.

Aliaksei Protas registered his first career NHL hat trick for the Capitals, who improved to 43-14-8 with their fifth straight win. Pierre-Luc Dubois, Nic Dowd, Dylan Strome and Anthony Beauvillier also scored. Logan Thompson earned his 28th victory of the season between the pipes with 26 stops.

The Capitals claimed a brief early lead on a partial breakaway by their Strome brother, as Dylan snuck behind the Anaheim defense and lifted a backhand bid past Dostal just two minutes into the action.

Strome's goal clinched his fourth consecutive 20-goal season and extended his point streak to five games.

Anaheim answered quickly though, taking a 2-1 lead courtesy of a couple unlikely suspects.

The tying goal came on a second-chance opportunity for Trouba right in front of the Washington net, a rebound bid punched through the sprawled Thompson's five-hole.

The goal was Trouba's first as a Duck and his seventh point in 39 games with Anaheim. The Ducks own a 18-17-4 mark since acquiring the veteran defenseman from the New York Rangers in December.

With an assist, his third in his last three games, Terry now sits just two points shy of his fourth straight 50-point season. The two-time All-Star winger leads Anaheim in points and assists this season.

Helleson then put the Ducks ahead 29 seconds after Trouba's goal, taking a short pass from Zegras just inside the blue line and beating Thompson with a quick release to the glove side.

Helleson has scored in consecutive games for the first time in his young NHL career and now owns nine points in 38 appearances this season.

The assists gave Zegras and Carlsson points in back-to-back games.

Washington would pull back even late in the opening frame on a pair of brutal bounces for Anaheim, a blocked shot that deflected off both defensemen Radko Gudas and Jackson LaCombe before finding Protas for a shot past Dostal from the slot.

Just eight goals from matching Wayne Gretzky's all-time NHL goals record, Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin collected assists on both of Washington's first-period tallies.

Gudas briefly left the game following the blocked shot, but returned for the start of the second period. The Anaheim captain has appeared in 63 of the club's 64 games so far this season.

Dubois put Washington back ahead early in the middle frame, tipping home a backdoor pass from defenseman, and fellow former LA King, Matt Roy stationed at the right point.

A year after tallying a full-season career-low with just 40 points in 82 games, his lone campaign as a King, Dubois owns 56 points in 64 outings this year - third among Caps team leaders.

Desperately needing those two points and trailing the NHL's top-ranked team by just one, Anaheim went back to the work early in the third, shaking off some adversity with a pair of game-tying goals.

Mintyukov first made it 3-3 on a wrister from the point through a swarm of bodies in the slot, off Thompson's glove and into the net.

Mintyukov's goal, his second point in as many games, was his fifth of the season, surpassing his rookie-season total in 11 fewer appearances.

Cutter Gauthier collected an assist on the goal, his sixth helper in the last five games.

That even hockey game lasted for all of 28 seconds though, as a Ducks defensive zone breakdown yielded Protas' second of the night - momentarily put Washington right back in control.

Protas has scored a career-best 28 goals this season, including three tonight, after combining for 13 goals in his first three NHL seasons.

The seesaw action continued from there, igniting a raucous Honda Center crowd on a bullet from Vatrano in the right circle that whizzed past Thompson's blocker into the top corner.

The two-point night made Vatrano the second Duck to reach 40 points this season. Vatrano has recorded multiple points in three of his last six games, and leads the team with 21 goals.

Unfortunately for the Ducks though, the final punches of the night would go to the Caps, with the game-deciding goal scored by Dowd on a rebound from the low slot through an Anaheim stick check.

Beauvillier and Protas capped the scoring in the final two minutes of regulation, the latter sealing his hat trick with an empty-netter.

The Ducks return to action Wednesday night against the Utah Hockey Club.