The Washington Capitals goaltending carousel continues to spin and it will land on Vitek Vanecek in net against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night. Vanecek will get back in goal for the first time since he was beaten in overtime by the Detroit Red Wings this past Wednesday.
This will be Vanecek’s sixth start of the season. In his previous five games, he sports a 2-0-2 record with a 2.26 goals-against average and a .911-save percentage.
It is also possible that we may see Capitals 2019 third-round pick, Aliaksei Protas make his NHL debut after being called up from Hershey this morning.
Vitek Vanecek will start in net for the Capitals tonight against Tampa, per Laviolette.
— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) November 1, 2021
Vanecek drawing in means Ilya Samsonov comes out after shutting out the Arizona Coyotes on Friday.
“It wasn’t a lot of work out there but sometimes those games are even harder to stay in,” Peter Laviolette said of Samsonov’s performance. “Just to stay focused because then all of a sudden you do have to make a big save. He was good, just staying in the game. He made the saves we needed him to make.”
Vitek Vanecek gets the start tonight in Tampa Bay.#CapsBolts pic.twitter.com/HyOMLNONcU
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) November 1, 2021
The Capitals held an optional morning skate before taking on the Lightning so we won’t know for sure the potential line combinations until closer to puck drop but we do know that Nic Dowd will be out and Aliaksei Protas could very well be making his NHL debut.
Laviolette said the #Caps are working through some things in the room. But it *sounds* like Protas will make his NHL debut tonight in Tampa.
— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) November 1, 2021
With Protas now being on the roster, the Capitals could potentially have five rookies in their lineup including Protas, Brett Leason, Connor McMichael, Hendrix Lapierre, and Martin Fehervary.
The #Caps, btw, have everyone on this trip, including injured players Backstrom, Oshie and Dowd. It's a four-day trip to Florida, which gives the group time to do some bonding activities that they couldn't do last season. "It could be good for the team," Laviolette said.
— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) November 1, 2021
Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong/RMNB
