The Washington Capitals played their third game without Aliaksei Protas on Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Protas has been out with a lower-body injury, a skate cut to his left foot, since the Capitals’ 5-3 win over the Chicago Blackhawks last Friday night. ESPN’s Emily Kaplan shared during Saturday’s broadcast that the Caps expect the big Belorussian to be back skating next week but are still unsure about his game availability moving forward.
“Aliaksei Protas has been working out in the gym, and he’s supposed to start skating on Monday,” Kaplan said during ESPN’s telecast on ABC. “His injury is a skate cut – he lucked out with the location. It’s right under the tongue of the skate. There’s still some concern about how it affects the rest of his foot, so they’re hopeful he’ll be ready for Game 1 of the playoffs, but that definitely has not been determined yet.”
Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery revealed ahead of last Sunday’s game that Protas was “week-to-week” with the lower-body injury. The 24-year-old winger was spotted wearing a boot on his left foot while on the ice for Alex Ovechkin’s 895th career goal celebrations in New York and at the after-party back home in DC.
Protas is in the midst of a career-best year, recording 66 points (30g, 36a) in 76 games. He ranks third on the Capitals in scoring behind only Alex Ovechkin (70) and Dylan Strome (77). With Protas out of the lineup, the Caps have scored just five goals over their last three games.
If the regular season were to end Saturday, the Capitals would be locked into a first-round matchup with the upstart Montreal Canadiens. Protas has four points (1g, 3a) in three games against the Canadiens this year.
The 2025 postseason is set to begin in exactly a week on April 19.
