Lightning place Andrej Sustr, Anthony Cirelli in COVID protocol

So much for Andrej Sustr’s recall to the taxi squad. The veteran defenseman and Anthony Cirelli have both entered the COVID protocol, the Tampa Bay Lightning have announced this morning.

That takes the number to six players and two coaches for the Lightning, as Sustr and Cirelli join Mikhail Sergachev, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Brian Elliott and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, along with Jon Cooper and Rob Zettler, in the protocol. Joe Smith of The Athletic reports that like the others, the two newcomers are either asymptomatic or have experienced minor symptoms to this point.

Interestingly enough, the Lightning had some good news at practice, as Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point were both present and skating together on a line with Alex Killorn. While Tampa Bay deals with plenty of other absences, they are also getting closer to getting two key players back.

With Tampa and Montreal both adding players to the protocol Monday, it’s unclear if the game Tuesday is going to be played. As of now, the Canadiens are still scheduled to fly to Florida and have made recalls to fill out a lineup.