TAMPA, Fla. — Tuesday night's game featuring the Tampa Bay Lightning versus the Montreal Canadiens is, at least of this writing, still on despite more players entering COVID protocol.
Lightning reporter Bryan Burns tweeted Monday that Anthony Cirelli and Andrej Sustr were added to the list today. With these additions, there have been a total of six players and two staff members who have entered protocol in recent days.
Lightning head coach Jon Cooper entered COVID protocol on Dec. 21, with the Bolts announcing Sunday that Pierre-Édouard Bellemare, Mikhail Sergachev, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Brian Elliott and assistant coach Rob Zettler followed.
That's just the Lightning. The Canadiens announced five players and a member of its coaching staff were added Monday to the NHL's COVID protocol list.
The Lightning remains scheduled to host the Canadiens at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Amalie Arena — it's one of four games scheduled following the NHL's decision to postpone the season given so many new cases of COVID-19 affecting players and staff.
CBS Sports reports the NHL and players' association have agreed to update COVID protocols through at least Jan. 7 with daily testing for players and coaches, plus pre-game testing on a case-by-case basis.