Aliaksei Protas already has his Washington Capitals coaches and teammates raving about him again, just two games into the 2025-26 season. After a career-best 2024-25 campaign saw him record 66 points (30g, 36a) in 76 games, Protas is right back to racking up points, posting three (2g, 1a) in a 4-2 win over the New York Islanders on Saturday night.
The big Belarusian’s efforts led the Capitals to their first victory of the year, and Protas is now the team’s scoring leader with four points (2g, 2a) through two games. His first goal on Sunday, with 6:08 remaining in the first period, gave the Caps a 2-0 lead. After Jakub Chychrun chopped at an Islanders turnover, Protas found himself alone in the slot and fired stick side past goaltender Ilya Sorokin.
Protas continued his hot-shooting ways late in the second period, beating Sorokin on the same side on a breakaway. After stripping Tony DeAngelo of the puck at the Capitals’ blue line, Protas used his blazing speed to break in all alone and score his second of the night.
“I think it was bobbling a bit, he made a mistake, it happens to everybody,” Protas said postgame. “Good thing to capitalize. Just try to use the speed and capitalize on the chance.”
While Protas played down the marker, his teammates and bench boss were less nonchalant about the speed and shooting talent that he showed off to put the Capitals up 4-0.
“[He’s] made in a laboratory,” Ryan Leonard said. “It’s crazy. We all say he’s the best player in the league, so it’s special. He’s a special player.”
“I’m telling you, he’s just scratching the surface on his career in this league,” head coach Spencer Carbery said. “He’s such a horse, he’s such a big guy that skates so well, that’s now going to play on the power play this year. He’s got a bright, bright future – not that anybody doesn’t know that by now after last year’s season.
“Whether the production is the same or not, I’m not really worried about. He’ll score and he’ll get into the situations that he did tonight and hopefully finishes at a high rate, but his all-around game and how effective he is night to night is just still going [up].”
The Capitals needed some instant offense Saturday after they created a good portion of chances in their home opener against the Boston Bruins, but were unable to score more than once on netminder Jeremy Swayman.
“We just needed someone, for lack of a better term, to shoot it in the back of the net, and that’s exactly what he did tonight,” Carbery said. “He got into a couple great areas and just snapped it right past their goaltender. We needed that because I thought we outplayed Boston the other night at home, but we only get one on the board. We needed some guys in some scoring situations to beat a goalie.”
Protas finished the game with his three points, as well as five shots on goal, eight shot attempts, seven individual scoring chances, four individual high-danger chances, and two drawn penalties. He skated 19:19 of total ice time, the most among all Capitals forwards.
Despite putting together a game-breaking performance so early in the season, Protas wasn’t happy with his overall effort and still believes he has more to give.
“I’m not like overall happy with the game I had today,” Protas said. “There was like so many areas to clean up for me, especially on the penalty kill, little D-zone exits. I got to be better, but overall, for sure, it gives you confidence to keep going.”
Protas will have the chance to continue his hot streak on Sunday night against the New York Rangers. Last season, Protas recorded four points (2g, 2a) in three games against the Rangers. He only had more points against one other team, the Detroit Red Wings (5).
