Spencer Carbery ‘absolutely’ expects Aliaksei Protas to play in Capitals’ first-round series against Canadiens: ‘Might be tonight, might be Game 2’

Aliaksei Protas continues to make progress as he attempts to return from injury.

Ahead of the Capitals’ morning skate on Monday, Protas took the ice in a non-contact jersey for a second consecutive day. The 24-year-old forward is rehabbing a skate cut to his left foot he suffered against the Chicago Blackhawks on April 4.

Capitals superfan Charlie McManus posted video of Protas’s pretty spirited spin out on the ice at MedStar Capitals Iceplex.

Protas skated a little over 10 minutes and did not stay on the ice for the morning skate, seemingly ruling him out of Game 1 of the Capitals’ first-round series against the Montreal Canadiens.

Though, after the session concluded, Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery said he was optimistic Protas would suit up sometime during the series.

“Yeah, I think he absolutely — I would expect him to play and we’ll just see when that is,” he said. “Might be tonight, might be Game 2, we’ll see.”

The Belorussian forward had a career year in 2024-25, registering 66 points (30g, 36a) in 76 games for the Eastern Conference’s top-seeded Capitals. He missed the final six games of the regular season due to the injury.

Getting Protas back in the lineup would be a major boon to the Capitals. Not only did the big winger play in the top six all season, but he was a major part of the team’s penalty kill with Tom Wilson.

Martin Fehervary misses another Capitals skate, appears unlikely to play in Game 1 against Canadiens

Martin Fehervary was not on the ice again at MedStar Capitals Iceplex on Monday morning.

The Capitals defenseman has not skated since April 15 after appearing to turn his ankle in the Capitals’ 3-1 victory over the New York Islanders. Fehervary has not practiced with the team since then and has missed all three of the team’s skates during Easter weekend, suggesting he’s likely unavailable for Game 1 of the Capitals’ first-round series against the Montreal Canadiens.

“I’m just going to leave it as we’ve got a bunch of guys working through some things, progressing, potentially playing on Monday, potentially not,” Carbery said Saturday. “Once we get going in the series, I can give you more updates as guys are obviously warming up and in the lineup or not.”

Alex Alexeyev has filled in for Fehervary at the last few practices, skating on the Capitals’ third pairing with Trevor van Riemsdyk. Alexeyev played in three of the last four games of the season after only playing in five games prior.

Capitals projected defense pairings

 

Ethan Bear was also recalled from the AHL’s Hershey Bears and is skating on the team’s extra defense pairing with Dylan McIlrath.

Fehervary played in all 81 games of the season until missing the final game of the regular season against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The 25-year-old Slovakian defender posted career highs in points (25) and assists (20) this season, skating 19:00 of ice time per game.