5 more Lightning players, staffers enter COVID protocol

BRANDON — The Tampa Bay Lightning are used to adjusting. They’ve dealt with abrupt schedule interruptions over the past two seasons and steered through them on the way to winning consecutive Stanley Cups.

This is a team that mostly avoided the coronavirus entering its dressing room, but on Sunday afternoon five members of the organization, including star goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, entered COVID protocol before the team regrouped for its first practice following the holiday break. All five are asymptomatic or have only mild symptoms.

Backup goaltender Brian Elliott, defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and assistant coach Rob Zettler are the others, raising uncertainty about whether the Lightning will be able to resume their season as scheduled.

They are supposed to host the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night.

It also served as a reminder that no team is immune from the omicron variant after it swept through the league before the break, shutting down organizations and forcing numerous postponements. The Dallas Stars also had five players and two staff members enter protocol post-break.

“We’re living in crazy times right now,” Lightning forward Corey Perry said. “This morning you never know what’s going to happen and you hope for the best . ... As much as you don’t want to say it, it’s probably easier now. You just roll with the punches; you know things are going to happen.”

Lightning head coach Jon Cooper has been in COVID protocol since last Tuesday, so the team’s practice at the Ice Sports Forum in Brandon was led by assistant coaches Derek Lalonde and Jeff Halpern.

With no goaltenders available, goalies coach Frantz Jean suited up.

Lalonde said the staff found out about 12:45 p.m. who would be missing from the day’s 2 p.m. practice session, and despite working without either goaltender, he called it a fairly productive practice. Lalonde showed some levity, saying that having Jean in goal was good to “build some offensive confidence” in the group coming out of the break.

Lalonde remains in constant contact with Cooper, who went into protocol hours before the Lightning’s game in Las Vegas; he is the first member of the organization to miss a game this season due to COVID.

After that game, captain Steven Stamkos said there was every reason to believe that more members of the organization would go into protocol.

Sunday, Lalonde reminded the players to be ready to play Tuesday no matter what is swirling around them.

“That’s always been our approach and it’s a huge credit to our guys,” Lalonde said. “You saw it, the curveball they were given in Vegas. I think guys are used to not being surprised

or shocked with how fluid everything will be with the pandemic.”

Lalonde said he’ll know more about the Lightning ’s goaltending situation Monday. The Lightning’s

AHL team in Syracuse has already had games postponed due to players in protocol.

The NHL started its holiday break a day early after nearly 20 percent of its players were in protocol, with 26 of the league’s 32 teams having at least one member in protocol. As a result, 50 games were postponed, forcing the league

and players union to come to an agreement to pull NHL players out of the

Olympics in order to make up games over the threeweek break in February.

On Sunday, deputy Commissioner Bill Daly confirmed to the Associated Press that the NHL would allow teams to establish a taxi squad, emergency callups as long as they make no more than $1 million and sign another goaltender if fewer than two are healthy.

Asked whether he is worried that the Lightning have yet to see the worst of the virus, defenseman Zach Bogosian said the focus has to be on resuming the season Tuesday.

“We’ve done, I think, a pretty good job of being smart and being safe,” Bogosian said. “This virus is obviously ripping through the world, ripping through the sports world.

“Obviously there is potential there that it could pop up with us. But I don’t think any of us are going to live in fear or live in a world where we’re going to worry about being positive in three or four days. Just try to get through that day and take it a day at a time.”