Sharks provide update on COVID outbreak

The San Jose Sharks are still reeling from a COVID-19 scare that sidelined multiple players and head coach Bob Boughner over the weekend.

Team Teal placed multiple players in COVID protocol, and captain Logan Couture was scratched from the lineup due to being "under the weather" just a couple hours before Saturday's game against the Winnipeg Jets. Couture and forward Andrew Cogliano, who was placed in the protocol, returned to practice on Monday morning, while Erik Karlsson, Radim Simek, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Jacob Middleton, Jonathan Dahlen and Matt Nieto remained absent. Kevin Labanc, who played in Saturday's 2-1 overtime win, was also absent from practice on Monday and added to the COVID list.

It wasn't clear if Saturday's game would happen at all with Boughner and the players entering the protocol so close to puck drop. Goalie James Reimer admitted to the press postgame that he and the rest of the team didn't know if the game would happen until after they took pregame warmups.

"It was just a little vague," the netminder admitted. "We didn't really know what was going on and what was going to take place. We were familiar with what happened last year, and we didn't know the protocol for this year."

Despite the chaos that preceded the game, the Sharks churned out a valiant effort and overcame the Jets thanks to a Timo Meier slap-shot goal in overtime to seal a 2-1 win.