Bruins center Sean Kuraly is one of five Boston players sidelined because of the NHL’s COVID protocols, causing the league to postpone the Bruins’ next two games. Elise Amendola/Associated Press
The Boston Bruins’ season took another detour on Friday when the NHL announced that four additional Bruins have entered the league’s COVID protocol list, causing the team’s next two games to be postponed.
Jake DeBrusk, David Krejci, Craig Smith and David Pastrnak were added to the list on Friday. Sean Kuraly tested positive on Thursday, and all players and team personnel were retested in the middle of the day, with the negative results allowing Thursday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres to go forward, said Coach Bruce Cassidy.
DeBrusk was placed on the COVID list last Saturday but had subsquently produced enough negative tests to be reinstated after missing one game.
All the players added to the list on Friday figured prominently in the Bruins’ 4-1 win on Thursday. Pastrnak, DeBrusk and Smith scored, while Krejci produced three assists.
A player can land on the COVID list because of a positive test, close contact wth an infected person and/or COVID symptoms.
The Bruins were scheduled to play the Sabres in Buffalo on Saturday and the New York Islanders on Tuesday at TD Garden, which was set to be the first game where fans would have been allowed in the building in more than a year.
The Bruins have been playing in front of a limited number of fans for some road games in recent weeks.
Pending test results in the coming days, the Bruins will be allowed to reopen their practice facilities on Wednesday.
A release from the league said: “The Bruins organization has, and will continue to follow all the recommended guidelines aimed at protecting the health and safety of its players, staff and community at large as set by the NHL, local, state and national agencies.”
The Bruins had two players on the COVID protocol list earlier this month – Charlie Coyle and DeBrusk. Like DeBrusk, Coyle was deemed, after subsequent testing, to have produced a false positive and missed only one game.
Presuming the Bruins are allowed to resume play on Thursday against the Islanders, they will have to play 28 games in 45 days, unless the league pushes out the end-of-season date, which is currently May 8.
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