Washington Capitals place Nic Dowd on IR, Recall Aliaksei Protas and Zach Fucale from Hershey

The start of the season for Nic Dowd could not get any worse. On Monday night in the Washington Capitals game against the Buffalo Sabres, Dowd left the game in the second period with a lower body injury. This was the third such incident and now he’s back on the injured reserve list.

The Caps added two players from Hershey in Aliaksei Protas and goaltender Zach Fucale. Don’t worry, at practice today Fucale was on the ice along with Vitek Vanecek and Ilya Samsonov. Protas made his NHL debut on Nov. 1 against the Tampa Bay Lightning. In eight games with the Hershey Bears this season, Protas has five points with a goal and four assists.

Protas is a high value prospect who earned experience last year during the pandemic by playing in the KHL. The 20 year old played for Dinamo Minsk where he recorded 18 points with 10 goals and eight assists. He also added seven points in 16 games with Hershey last season.

Fucale is 3-0-2 with Hershey this season with a 1.73 goals against average and a .933 save percentage. The 26 year old is tied for second in the AHL in goals against average among active goaltenders with at least five games played.

During the 2020-21 season, the six foot two and 189 pound goaltender led the AHL in goals against average at 1.80 and ranked second in save percentage at .932, establishing career highs in both categories. Fucale played 11 games with Hershey, the most games he has played at the AHL level since the 2017-18 season, posting a 9-2-0-1 record.

Fucale’s nine wins were tied for eighth in the AHL, while his two losses were the fewest among goaltenders with at least 660 minutes played. Fucale and Pheonix Copley received the AHL’s Harry “Hap” Holmes Memorial Award, presented to the goaltenders on the team which allows the fewest goals per game in the regular season.

Fucale is here because Vitek Vanecek appeared to hurt himself late. Vanecek did face shots in practice today, however, so I don’t how how much to read into it. Fucale will travel with the Caps on their two game road trip to Detroit and Columbus.

As for Protas he was centering the fourth line between Carl Hagelin and Brett Leason. Axel Jonsson-Fjallby was on the third line with Lars Eller and Garnet Hathaway. Connor McMichael was centering the second line between Conor Sheary and Daniel Sprong. The only line that remains unchanged is the top line.