The Capitals will be without Protas for “a little bit of time.”
After a day off to recover from a three-game trip out west, the Washington Capitals got back to work with a quick practice on Monday. However, they were without one of their top players due to injury.
Aliaksei Protas did not skate and is set to miss a “little bit of time,” per coach Spencer Carbery, after colliding head-on with Nic Dowd on Saturday against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Protas is back in D.C. and expected to return at some point before the end of the regular season.
Pierre-Luc Dubois also didn’t skate, as he took a maintenance day. He left Saturday’s win over Vegas for a short period, but did return and finish the game. He is expected to be good to go for Tuesday’s meeting with the Philadelphia Flyers.
With Protas and Dubois out, the Capitals tweaked their forward lines.
Connor McMichael took Protas’ place on the top line and Ethen Frank, who is recovering from a day-to-day, lower-body injury, in his spot at 2LW. Hendrix Lapierre moved to the second-line center role as a placeholder, with David Kampf slotting into his spot at 4C.
Carbery wouldn’t commit to Kampf drawing in on Tuesday, though there could potentially be an opportunity for him to play down the stretch amid injuries.
Kampf, acquired at the deadline, has yet to make his debut amid visa issues, a return to Vancouver for the birth of his second child and a handful of healthy scratches.
Here were the line combinations:
Alex Ovechkin-Dylan Strome-Connor McMichael
Ethen Frank-Hendrix Lapierre-Tom Wilson
Anthony Beauvillier-Justin Sourdif-Ryan Leonard
Brandon Duhaime-David Kampf-Ivan Miroshnichenko
Martin Fehervary-Rasmus Sandin
Jakob Chychrun-Trevor van Riemsdyk
Cole Hutson-Matt Roy
Declan Chisholm-Dylan McIlrath/Timothy Liljegren
Logan Thompson
Charlie Lindgren