The Bruins seemed to finally be past their COVID issues, with Jake DeBrusk -- the final player they had stuck in protocol -- getting removed from the NHL's COVID list Sunday afternoon, joining the team for Monday's morning skate, and re-entering the lineup for Monday night's game against the Flyers.
But then goalie Jaroslav Halak "popped a positive test" -- as coach Bruce Cassidy put it -- on Monday and is now in protocol himself.
With Tuukka Rask still working his way back from injury, things have suddenly gotten thin at the goaltending position for the Bruins.
Cassidy said Dan Vladar was scheduled to start Monday anyways, so that remains the plan. Vladar has played well in three starts over the last couple weeks, posting a 2-1-0 record, .929 save percentage and 2.03 goals-against average.
Jeremy Swayman has been called up from AHL Providence and will back up Vladar Monday night. Swayman, a Hobey Baker Award finalist at the University of Maine last year, has been on fire with the P-Bruins this season, going 8-1-0 with a .933 save percentage and 1.89 goals-against average.
Where things really get interesting will be Tuesday night, when the Bruins play the Flyers again on the second night of a back-to-back -- with travel from Boston to Philadelphia in between.
Cassidy said Rask is getting closer and will travel with the team, but won't be ready to return by Tuesday. The goal would be for him to return later in the week -- either Thursday in Washington or Saturday in Philadelphia.
Even if Halak's test result winds up being a false positive, he would likely still be out Tuesday as NHL protocols require multiple days of consecutive negative tests to wipe out the initial positive. Brad Marchand recently missed two games due to a false positive.
Given that Cassidy doesn't like starting goalies back-to-back nights -- and even less so when there's travel in between -- it could mean Swayman makes his first NHL start Tuesday night. Monday night will mark his first time backing up in an NHL game.
The Bruins are fortunate to have as much goalie depth as they do, as they haven't really suffered at the position despite Rask playing just one period over the last month. They'll probably be fine with Vladar and Swayman for a couple games, but anything longer than that would certainly test their youth and their depth.
Here are the Bruins' expected lines Monday night, with Vladar in goal and DeBrusk back in:
