The Washington Capitals will play the second half of a preseason back-to-back on Saturday.

The Caps will take on the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena. The game will be streamed live on the Capitals’ website and can be heard on Caps Radio 24/7.

The Capitals dressed a mostly star-studded lineup against the Detroit Red Wings as Alex Ovechkin and Darcy Kuemper made their preseason debuts. Against the Blue Jackets, the second half of the team will dress, but featuring one notable return from Friday: Aliaksei Protas.

The squad in Columbus tonight.#CapsJackets | #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/IOPQScl8M9

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 1, 2022

If he gets a jersey, Protas will have played every preseason game thus far (4) and appears to be a serious contender to make the NHL team out of Training Camp. He’s played three different positions in the three previous games before.

“He’s been really good, really strong,” Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette said after the team’s 2-0 win over the Red Wings. “You notice his skating. You notice his physicality. You notice his work ethic. Right now, he’s making things happen out there.”

Protas recently revealed that he spent most of the summer working on his skating to try and go to the next level as a player.

“I knew it was one of my weaknesses I need to work on, so I spent pretty much whole summer working on it,” Protas said. “I spent a couple days like a camp (with skating coach). After that, I started to skate with my hometown team and I also was getting extra ice by myself. I was sending videos to my skating coach and he was explain me what I did good and what I did bad.”

The Capitals’ preseason lineups will begin to start looking more and more like its regular season roster next week as the team’s veterans look to ramp up for the season opener.

“When we get to (preseason) games five and six, we’ll be a little more heavy-handed’er with the lineup,” Laviolette said.

Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong/RMNB