Wilkes-Barre/Scranton had its first four games of the month of December postponed when goaltender Alex D'Orio, forwards Jan Drozg, Justin Almeida, Jordy Bellerive, and Sam Poulin, and defenseman Juuso Riikola went into COVID protocol.
Almeida and Bellerive returned to Wilkes-Barre's lineup earlier this week, and D'Orio, Drozg, Poulin, and Riikola returned on Saturday night.
But just as Wilkes-Barre got one group of players out of COVID protocol, another round of players went into protocol.
Forwards Radim Zohorna, Felix Robert, Nathan Legare and defenseman Niclas Almari all missed Saturday's game in Hershey due to either positive tests or close contacts.
Wilkes-Barre was forced to dress 10 forwards and eight defensemen in the game, an 8-3 loss to the Bears.
Forward Kasper Bjorkqvist remains sidelined on a day-to-day basis after being cut by a skate somewhere in the lower-body area in the game on Nov. 24. He has resumed skating. Forward Michael Chaput was injured in Wilkes-Barre's last game on Tuesday, and is out week-to-week with a lower-body injury. Goaltender Filip Lindberg remains week-to-week with a lower-body injury sustained during the game on Nov. 12, and goaltender Louis Domingue is day-to-day with a lower-body injury sustained during practice on Dec. 2.
Anthony Angello, who has played three games since returning from injury and making his season debut on Dec. 11, was held out of the lineup as a healthy scratch for precautionary reasons, potentially in order to keep him healthy in the event that the Penguins need to recall him. With Brian Boyle still day-to-day in Pittsburgh, the Penguins currently have no extra forwards at the NHL level.
Mike Sullivan said on Dec. 8 that he believes they'd be "reluctant" to recall any players from Wilkes-Barre due to the team's COVID situation.
"You know, we've had our fair amount of challenges with COVID already," Sullivan said. "We certainly don't want to invite any more."
