The Washington Capitals are still without two of the key drivers of their success this season due to late-season injuries suffered in games last week.
Neither Aliaksei Protas nor Logan Thompson dressed for the team’s skate on Wednesday or took the ice for their morning skate on Thursday. Head coach Spencer Carbery was asked Wednesday about their potential availability for the rest of the season and into the playoffs but balked at looking that far ahead.
“We’ll see next week,” Carbery said. “Both are progressing. We’ll see how it looks next week, but too early to talk about two weeks from now or 10 days or whatever.”
Protas suffered his injury, a skate cut to his left foot, late in the Capitals’ 5-3 win over the Chicago Blackhawks last Friday night. Carbery then revealed ahead of last Sunday’s game that Protas is “week-to-week” with the lower-body injury.
The 24-year-old Belorussian appeared to get cut as he attempted a shot in front of the Blackhawks’ net, and defenseman Wyatt Kaiser inadvertently clinked skates with him. Protas traveled with the Capitals to New York to take part in the celebrations for Alex Ovechkin breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record, dressed in a suit while wearing a boot on his foot.
Protas is having a career-best year, recording 66 points (30g, 36a) in 76 games. He ranks third on the Capitals in scoring behind only Alex Ovechkin (69) and Dylan Strome (76).
Thompson suffered an upper-body injury on April 2 on the road against the Hurricanes, the Capitals’ opponent on Thursday night. The 28-year-old backstop’s exact ailment was not obvious, but he did have his mask knocked off by a high shot from defenseman Sean Walker.
The Calgary native has posted a 31-6-6 record this season with a 2.49 goals-against average, a .910 save percentage, and two shutouts. Thompson had been poor in recent games before going down injured, losing 6 of his last 15 appearances and posting a 3.05 goals-against average and a .888 save percentage.
Hunter Shepard was recalled by the Capitals to back up Charlie Lindgren in the team’s last two games. The Caps have just five games remaining before the NHL postseason begins, and per NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti, Lindgren says he is preparing to start four of those games with Shepard splitting the upcoming back-to-back against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
