Saturday night’s game between the Washington Capitals and the Vegas Golden Knights began with an unfortunate collision that left two former teammates injured.
With just 1:15 remaining in the first period of the contest, Golden Knights defenseman Jeremy Lauzon shoved Aliaksei Protas in the back along the boards deep in Washington’s zone. The push propelled Protas headfirst into former Capitals teammate Nic Dowd, and both players immediately crumpled to the ice.
The head athletic trainers from both teams made their way onto the ice. Dowd began bleeding profusely from a cut just above his eyebrow, while Protas tried to get to his skates, but stumbled right back down onto his knees.
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The two players were ushered off the ice and into their teams’ dressing rooms.
Neither returned before the end of the first frame, and Protas did not come out for the second period with the rest of his teammates. The Capitals later ruled him out of the rest of the game due to an upper-body injury.
Dowd made his way back onto the Golden Knights bench after having his cut patched up during the first intermission.
The 35-year-old center burned his old pals by sparking a three-goal comeback for the Golden Knights by potting a shorthanded goal 10:38 into the second period. Rasmus Andersson would notch another shorty on the same power play just 25 seconds later.
Before the collision, Protas had played 6:27 of ice time in the first period, the most among all Capitals forwards. His brightest moment early in the game came on the first shift, setting up Dylan Strome for a shot that beat goaltender Adin Hill but rang the post behind him.
Protas has missed four games this season, three due to injury. He had another scary collision in January when Ottawa Senators defenseman Artem Zub sent him crashing into the boards with a dangerous trip. Coming into Saturday’s game, Protas had recorded 47 points (23g, 24a) in 69 games.
