Dec 16: The team has announced four new additions to the protocol. Anton Blidh, Trent Frederic, Jeremy Swayman and a member of the support staff are now unavailable. All three players took part in Tuesday’s game against the Golden Knights. The Bruins have recalled Jesper Froden and Kyle Keyser from the AHL. Later in the evening, the team added Oskar Steen and another staff member to the protocol.
Dec 15: The Boston Bruins have added Patrice Bergeron to the COVID protocol, joining Brad Marchand and Craig Smith who were ruled out yesterday. Bergeron played nearly 17 minutes last night against the Vegas Golden Knights, scoring the Bruins’ lone goal.
The Bruins are one of the teams involved in several games over the weekend that have turned up positive COVID results. The Carolina Hurricanes and Calgary Flames both have seen postponements to their schedule as a third of their roster entered quarantine, while the Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers were each forced to play without some regulars. The Bruins now have three players in the protocol, but it would have been hard to choose a more important duo than Bergeron and Marchand.
In fact, if the trio of forwards is out for the full ten-plus days, this could be a critical time in the Bruins schedule. The team hasn’t been able to keep pace with the three division leaders in the Atlantic, now ten points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning, and continue to struggle offensively. The club has just 70 goals in 25 games, scoring more than two just twice in their past seven. Taking three players out of the top-six certainly won’t help that offensive struggle, especially with five games still scheduled before the Christmas break.
Bergeron is having another strong season, with 10 goals and 23 points in 25 games so far. That includes a four-game point streak, which will now have to be put on hold as he deals with the COVID protocol.
Everything is fine. *insert eye roll here*