Bruins place forwards Taylor Hall, Curtis Lazar in COVID protocol

The Boston Bruins announced Saturday via a team release that forwards Taylor Hall and Curtis Lazar entered the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol.

The news comes a few hours after the league announced that the Bruins and Nashville Predators will be shut down through the holiday break. Boston is already dealing with a long list of COVID absences that includes Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, Craig Smith and Jeremy Swayman as well as three other players and two staff members.

Boston’s next game is scheduled for Monday, December 27, against the Pittsburgh Penguins, who are 7-2-1 in their past 10 games and winners of six straight.

Hall hasn’t exactly struggled in his first full year in a Bruins uniform, but he hasn’t performed up to the level he showcased in a 16-game stint last season after Boston acquired him at the trade deadline from the Buffalo Sabres. He has 14 points through 26 games, the same amount he had in just 16 contests with Boston last year.

Lazar was also acquired in that trade with Buffalo, and he’s reprising his role in the bottom-six forward group. He missed some time at the beginning of the season but had been playing consistently when healthy. He has two goals and three assists for five points through 20 games while averaging a reasonable 12:05 per game.

If both Hall and Lazar are confirmed positives, and there are no further postponements, their status for the game against Pittsburgh remains in doubt.