Protas and Thompson Progressing But Playoff Ready?

Spencer Carbury gave what he called his last update on the conditions of Aliaksei Protas and Logan Thompson. Both are key cogs in the upcoming series and both may not be ready to start the series. 

Here is the update that Carbury gave. Reading the tea leaves here, I can see where Protas misses Game 1 because as of yesterday, he wasn’t yet on the ice. I doubt they want to throw him in there since he last played on April 4th. Monday seems like a stretch for the 30 goal scorer. If he plays in the first game, I will be surprised but not shocked. We know how things work when there are playoff games being played but most teams save guys for a game or two rather than rushing them in the beginning of a series. 

Thompson began skating last Saturday after incurring an upper body injury and did join the team on their last road trip. I think the chances of him playing are excellent but how good will he be? Will he be rusty? He hasn’t been facing any shots and he hasn’t played played since April 2nd. That’s a long time for a goalie to be away and that’s not going into the playoffs hot.

There’s some room for optimism from the fan base based on this report. You can’t go to the bank with it but it gives Montreal an opportunity at the very least and we all know you have to play your best out of the gate.