First, the good news - Ondrej Palat will likely be back in the line-up tomorrow. The bad news - his linemate, Nikita Kucherov, likely won’t. On Tuesday it was announced that the Tampa Bay Lightning winger had entered COVID protocols. Even with the reduced quarantine time for non-symptomatic players Kucherov will still likely miss the team’s next two games. On Thursday they face the New Jersey Devils and then on Saturday, the Vegas Golden Knights.
So, for at least two more games the Lightning still won’t have iced their full line-up. Who knows, maybe next week.