The Washington Capitals’ preseason game on Thursday sounds like it’s going to be quite the family affair.
Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery revealed on Wednesday that he plans to include Aliaksei Protas and Ilya Protas, as well as Dylan Strome and Matt Strome, in the team’s lineup for their game in Hershey against the Philadelphia Flyers. The two sets of brothers practiced together in Group A at MedStar Capitals Iceplex ahead of the matchup.
“I’m a sucker for those stories,” Carbery said. “Yeah, I love it. Because now I look at it from the parents’ perspective of how they must just sit back and go, ‘Two of our offspring are about to play in an NHL exhibition game together. Wow.’ And it probably takes them back to when they were just having the most fun skating on the rink together, all the morning practices and tournaments.
“To be able to do that is so special. So I will always try to do my best to, whenever those opportunities present themselves, play those. And I know it means a lot to them as parents for sure, but also those two individuals, to share that bond as siblings and be able to share the ice and play in any NHL , whether it’s an exhibition or a regular season game.”
The two pairs of brothers did not skate on the same forward lines on Wednesday. Dylan lined up with Ivan Miroshnichenko and Ryan Leonard, Aliaksei skated with Andrew Cristall and Connor McMichael, and Matt and Ilya both filtered in on the fourth line with Terik Parascak and Justin Sourdif.
While they may not be penciled into the lineup card together, Carbery hinted that he’d still find a way to get the siblings out onto the ice at the same time when the puck drops.
“You know me by now,” Carbery said. “There’s a strong possibility that happens.”
The two Protas brothers have played in one Capitals exhibition game with each other before, a September 24 matchup against the Boston Bruins last year. The two played on separate lines but did take a few shifts together. Ilya, five years younger than Aliaksei, made his preseason debut in the game, skating 13:12 of ice time.
“I was so happy,” Aliaksei said then. “Especially for Ilya. Because he was waiting on this chance. For sure, you want to play your first game. I was happy first of all for him, especially, and playing together, like I said, that’s something we couldn’t even dream of.”
The two would go on to have career-best years during the 2024-25 season, Ilya in the OHL with the Windsor Spitfires and Aliaksei in the NHL with the Capitals.
Dylan and Matt, although closer in age (2 years), have never played in an NHL game together. In fact, if Matt, 26, dresses on Thursday, the game will be his first-ever in the NHL, as he never received the opportunity while with the Flyers organization for six years, nor with the Capitals over the last three years.
During the Hershey Bears’ run to the 2024 Calder Cup, Dylan was able to watch Matt play live for the first time in nine years.
“That (night) was awesome,” Dylan told RMNB. “I haven’t seen him play in a long time. He’s someone that I’ve always followed, obviously. We watched each other play a ton of times. We played together a little bit when we were younger. I feel like he’s worked really hard to get to where he’s at. He’s had nothing handed to him.”
The younger Strome would go on to score the game-winning goal during that postseason, delivering Hershey a back-to-back championship. He immediately received support on social media from a very pumped-up Dylan.
There is a third Strome brother, Anaheim Ducks forward Ryan Strome, but he has also never been in the same organization as either of his brothers, meaning Thursday’s game will be a first for the Strome family.
The game in Hershey will also be a homecoming of sorts for the two Protas brothers and Matt Strome, as they’ve all spent varying numbers of seasons with the Bears organization. Matt has played in 143 games for the Bears over the past three years, Aliaksei played 67 games for Hershey from 2020 to 2023, and Ilya was a playoff black ace for the club last spring.
Unless they have surprising otherworldly preseasons, both the younger brothers of the two sibling pairs will be back in Hershey for the regular season. Ilya is set to make his pro debut, while Matt will be a veteran leader on a very young Bears team under new head coach Derek King.
