The Bruins' COVID situation continues to get worse, as the team announced Thursday night that forward Oskar Steen and a team staff member have been placed in COVID protocol.
That brings the Bruins' total to seven players and two staff members that are now in protocol.
The announcement came just 30 minutes before the start of the Bruins' game against the Islanders in New York. The game was not postponed and will go on as scheduled.
Steen's absence leaves the Bruins with just 11 forwards and 17 skaters for the game, so they will be a player short of a full roster. Steen had just been called up from Providence this week to help replace other forwards who had gone into protocol.
Here are what the Bruins' lines looked like in warmups, according to The Athletic's Fluto Shinzawa:
The Bruins' outbreak began on Tuesday with Brad Marchand and Craig Smith being placed in protocol. Patrice Bergeron joined them on Wednesday. On Thursday morning, Jeremy Swayman, Trent Frederic, Anton Blidh and a staff member were added to the list.
The Bruins are scheduled to travel to Canada for games in Montreal and Ottawa this weekend. As of Thursday night, there was no announcement of any plans to postpone. The Canadiens are playing in an empty building Thursday night, while capacity in Ottawa has been reduced to 50%.
