The Bruins are in a less-than-ideal situation with three members of the team in the COVID-19 protocol, but they have to keep trucking along.
Patrice Bergeron became the latest member of Boston’s group to enter the protocol, while Craig Smith and Brad Marchand were added Tuesday.
Having two out of three members of the top line out for the foreseeable future certainly is a tough pill to swallow, especially as the Bruins are about to embark on a road trip that’s in their favor. But Charlie Coyle knows at the end of the day, there’s still hockey to be played.
“I hope it doesn’t keep spreading, but you never know what is going to happen, right? You hate to see that,” Coyle told reporters after Wednesday’s morning skate at Warrior Ice Arena. “You want everyone healthy and playing and have your full team. Hopefully that’s limited and we can keep moving.
“It’s not an ideal situation. But you have to do what you can … then hope for the best, really. It’s not ideal but it’s what we’re working with here. So I hope that doesn’t happen, but we’ll see what happens.”
Coyle added the Bruins have to “expect the unexpected” going forward.
“Things happen a little different than you think sometimes, so I guess going back to that you have to adapt the best you can,” he said. “Sometimes guys get sick, injured, there’s a lot of adversity out there, and you gotta stick together, come together, other guys gotta step up and we got a little more responsibility there.
“We wish everyone was healthy and this wasn’t a thing right now but it is. So what can we do about it? We can’t sit there and dwell on it and think what if and all that. We gotta stay positive and keep moving forward. Hopefully this thing kind of diminishes and we can get back to playing hockey and focusing on that.”
The Bruins head to New York and will take on the Islanders on Thursday night. They’re supposed to travel to Canada afterward but will stay behind in New York a while longer in case any more positive results come in.
