For the Capitals second preseason game this year against the Philadelphia Flyers, at Giant Center in Hershey, PA, home to the Hershey Bears - the Washington Capitals AHL affiliate - coach Spencer Carbery is putting two sets of brothers on the ice.
It's the first time Dylan and Matt Strome will play together since they were 6 and 4 years old, respectively, back home in Ontario. Their dad will be in the audience to see the special reunion in person.
"It’s definitely a cool moment. One that I’m going to remember for a long time, and I’m excited for it."Dylan Strome
The Protas brothers are also taking the ice together. Veteran Aliaksei was present when little brother Ilya was drafted 75th overall in 2024 by his home team. 'Little' being relative as he's 6'5", just an inch shorter than the Caps' right winger.
In addition to the brotherhood while playing the team from the city of Brotherly Love, tonight is a chance for some of our favorite guys to land a spot on the regular roster, including Milano, Lapierre, Cristall, Frank, Miro and defenseman Iorio. It is Cristall’s first preseason game with the Capitals after being sent down to the Hershey Bears last year. Or up, geographically speaking.
Coach Carbery shared that he's personally excited to his return to Hershey, where his family started out: "It's a special place...Being able to stand on the bench and coach the Washington Capitals ...it will be a great moment."
For those concerned about how to watch the upcoming regular season, Monumental Sports Network shared the following about the state of negotiations with Youtube TV and Hulu +: "Monumental Sports Network’s distribution agreements with both YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV are set to expire ahead of the start of the Capitals regular season. Monumental is making every effort on behalf of our fans to keep our live games and other programming as accessible as possible..."
"Fans can always continue to access Monumental Sports Network programming directly through monumentalplus.com or the Monumental+ app."
This does not change streaming plans for nationally televised games on ESPN and TNT, if that's how you get your Caps fix.