The Washington Capitals jumped on the ice at Capital One Arena for their first playoff practice ahead of Monday’s Game 1 against the Montreal Canadiens. Neither defenseman Martin Fehervary or forward Aliaksei Protas skated with the team due to injury.
Head coach Spencer Carbery was cagey, just as he was on Thursday, about when Fehervary or Protas could return.
“I’ll just preface injuries with this,” Carbery said. “We’ve got guys working through some things. Some guys skating, not skating. For me to go into, ‘This guy is 80 percent, this guy has a chance to play, this guy doesn’t,’ 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. 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.”
Fehervary had played in all 81 games of the regular season until being forced out of action in the Capitals’ final outing against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The 25-year-old defender departed last Tuesday’s game against the New York Islanders after appearing to turn his ankle late in the first period. He returned during the second period and finished the game, but has not skated since.
Alex Alexeyev has filled in for Fehervary since, skating on the Capitals’ third pairing with Trevor van Riemsdyk on Saturday. Ethan Bear was also recalled from the AHL’s Hershey Bears and skated with Dylan McIlrath on the team’s extra defense pairing.
Protas has yet to skate since sustaining a skate cut to his left foot on April 4 against the Chicago Blackhawks. After going 76 games without missing any time, Protas missed the last six games of the season and appears in jeopardy of missing the beginning of the playoffs.
The 24-year-old forward has had a career-best season, more than doubling his previous career high with 66 points (30g, 36a). Protas is also a key member of the team’s penalty kill, skating 1:35 of shorthanded ice time per game. He and Tom Wilson lead the Capitals with 10 combined shorthanded points (5g, 5a).
Other previous injury concerns, Logan Thompson, John Carlson, Matt Roy, and Jakob Chychrun, were full participants in Saturday’s practice. Chychrun did have to leave the skate early for repairs after being struck in the face by a deflected puck, but the team says he is not expected to miss any time.
Carbery will have the Capitals back on the ice at MedStar Capitals Iceplex on Sunday. The club will also hold a morning skate on Monday ahead of Game 1 against the Habs.
