Skip to content
Your daily dose of hockey
News

Aliaksei Protas: another big man could complicate the CH’s life tomorrow
Félix Forget
Aliaksei Protas: another big man could complicate the CH’s life tomorrow
Credit: Since yesterday, there’s been a lot of talk about the state of health of the CH players. Patrik Laine’s wrist is clearly bothered, and seeing Samuel Montembeault leave with an injury yesterday is cause for concern. At today’s press briefing, Martin St-Louis noted that Monty is still under evaluation. Jakub Dobes had better be ready, […]
Since yesterday, there’s been a lot of talk about the state of health of the CH players. Patrik Laine’s wrist is clearly bothered, and seeing Samuel Montembeault leave with an injury yesterday is cause for concern. At today’s press briefing, Martin St-Louis noted that Monty is still under evaluation.

Jakub Dobes had better be ready, as he wasn’t tested too much yesterday. That said, if he’s the starting goalie, that will change.

That said, the Capitals have their problems too. Logan Thompson, their starting goalie, also suffered an injury yesterday. We expect to hear more about him later this afternoon.

However, the Caps could also bank on a backup who has yet to play in the series: Aliaksei Protas. The forward, who missed the first three games of the series due to a cut on his foot, seems very close to a return.

We saw him practicing with the rest of the group today, and he really seems to be ready to play. Spencer Carbery wouldn’t confirm anything (obviously), but no one would be surprised to see him play tomorrow, say.

And that, for the Tricolore, could be problematic. Protas scored 30 goals and 66 points this season, but more importantly, he’s six feet, six inches tall and weighs 247 pounds.

He’s a behemoth.

If Protas plays tomorrow, the Capitals are likely to be even more physical than they have been since the start of the series. And considering how intense Game #3 was at this level, guys like Josh Anderson and Arber Xhekaj could have their work cut out for them tomorrow.

To be continued… but the CH will have to be ready if Protas is in uniform tomorrow. And that seems, more than ever, a real possibility.


In gusto

– Charlie Lindgren knows the atmosphere will be something tomorrow. And more importantly, he’s talking like a goalie who expects to play…

– What a story!

– Reinforcement for Laval.

– Gabriel Landeskog will be in the Avalanche top-6 tonight.

– Miro Heiskanen is not yet ready to return.

facebook icon Share twitter icon Tweet linkedin icon Share
Copied!
More Content