From Monday's practice: Point appears near a return & COVID concerns grow

There was a sliver of good news surrounding the Tampa Bay Lightning's practice Monday at AMALIE Arena, their final day of preparation before returning to action from the holiday break.
Brayden Point, who has missed the last 14 games with an upper-body injury after being tripped on a breakaway and slamming hard into the end wall November 20 against New Jersey, practiced in a regular jersey, took line rushes as the second line center and skated in his usual spot on the top power-play unit, signaling he might make a return as early as Tuesday when the Lightning host the Montreal Canadiens at AMALIE Arena (7 p.m. puck drop).
Who will line up with him remains to be seen.

A day after the Lightning announced goaltenders Andrei Vasilevskiy and Brian Elliott, forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, defenseman Mikhail Sergachev and assistant coach Rob Zettler entered COVID protocol, two more Bolts succumbed to COVID testing Monday morning. Anthony Cirelli entered the COVID protocol, Tampa Bay assistant coach Derek Lalonde saying Cirelli had to be pulled from the room as the team was about to start its meeting prior to practice. Also, defenseman Andrej Sustr, who was recalled from the American Hockey League's Syracuse Crunch to the newly-formed taxi squad earlier Monday morning, was also placed in COVID protocol.
Those six players and Zettler join head coach Jon Cooper on the NHL's COVID protocol list. Cooper became the first Lightning player or coach who was forced to miss a game due to COVID this season when he had to sit out Tampa Bay's 4-3 win in Vegas in its final game before the holiday break December 21.
Unfortunately, it appears the Lightning will not be so fortunate to escape the effects of the virus in the near future.
Following Monday's practice, Lightning captain Steven Stamkos was asked if the team just has to assume situations like the last couple of days are going to continue to happen and not know who will be in the lineup on a day-to-day basis.
"Yeah, that's definitely the world we're in right now," Stamkos responded. "Especially with the new variant, what we're hearing is it's very transmissible so there's going to be more probably even after today. That's just the way it is right now. We just want guys to, if they do get it, feel okay and get back in as short a time as possible so they can help our team. In saying that, you just hope that everyone has very mild symptoms and it doesn't spread throughout their families or things like that."
With both regular goalies unavailable, the Lightning turned to goalie coach Frantz Jean and Kyle Konin, a Clearwater native who served as an emergency backup goalie for the St. Louis Blues in their game against the Lightning December 2 at AMALIE Arena, to fill the nets in practice on Monday.
"I give our guys credit, yesterday was probably a tough day for them to get their head wrapped around having a productive practice," Lalonde said, referring to the Bolts' practice Sunday when they were also without Vasilevskiy and Elliott. "We show up, we're down one more coach, already down our head coach in Jon Cooper. We're down a couple players. Literally, they didn't know who was going to start practice because we were minute by minute getting the results back from the COVID tests. And then they show up and Frantzi's gearing up and we've got a shooter tutor at one end. We talked to them about being professionals, let's be productive. We made practice simple around that. And then I had a little talk with our leadership group today just asking them to lead in the fact that we're not going to have a NHL goalie again today. We're going to have an emergency goalie, our goalie coach is going to be in net, but we have to have a productive practice. Give the guys a ton of credit, they led, and I thought today was a very productive and a good practice going forward."
The Lightning recalled goaltenders Maxime Lagace and Hugo Alnefelt from AHL Syracuse to address their issues in net. Lagace last appeared in a NHL game with the Pittsburgh Penguins on May 8, 2021, making all 29 saves against the Buffalo Sabres to record his first career NHL shutout.
Alnefelt, the Bolts' third round pick in the 2019 Draft, has appeared in six games for Syracuse this season, going 2-3-1 with a 3.56 goals-against average and .864 save percentage. He has yet to play in a NHL game.
Both haven't practiced with the Lightning yet but should arrive in time to participate in the team's optional morning skate on Tuesday prior to the game against Montreal.
"Obviously not ideal for either of those goalies but will get a morning skate, will have some time with Frantz and hopefully, like anything else, our guys will pick them up understanding what they're up against and they'll play a little more responsible, be a little more predictable and a little harder in front of them," Lalonde said.
The Lightning aren't the only team dealing with COVID issues. Pretty much every team in the NHL is, their next opponent too. Montreal announced Monday four defensemen - Ben Chiarot, Joel Edmundson, Jeff Petry and Chris Wideman - and goaltender Jake Allen were placed on the NHL's COVID protocol list. The Canadiens already had Laurent Dauphin, Mike Hoffman, Artturi Lehkonen and Tyler Toffoli on the list, leading some to wonder, Lightning players included, whether Tuesday's game would even be played.
"Just like the Vegas game, we have to prepare like we're going to play," Stamkos said. "Obviously, a lot of things can change, but that's what we've done the past couple of days. We had a skate to just get back at it yesterday and a more structured practice today, so for the guys that are out there on the ice, we've been told to prepare to play. Unfortunate what's going on around the league with a lot of teams having to deal with COVID issues right now, including ourselves, but I don't think a lot is going to change here moving forward for the next couple weeks. Teams are going to have to adjust on the fly, and we're going to have to do the same."
The positive for the Lightning is there's a decent chance they'll have Point on Tuesday to help offset some of the losses, particularly that of Cirelli. Point took line rushes with the second line at practice between Alex Killorn and Mathieu Joseph. And he was back in his usual bumper position on the top power-play unit.
"Getting close. Feeling pretty good, still a little rusty obviously," Point said when asked if he's anxious to return to the lineup. "I think everyone kind of is coming off that Christmas break. Yeah, excited to be taking full reps in practice. Really looking forward to getting back playing."
Lalonde said it would be up to the medical staff to clear Point tomorrow morning as to whether he'd be able to make his return against the Canadiens.
"With Cirelli going on protocol, he'll simply just slide into one of our top six center spots," Lalonde said. "It'll give us a boost on our power play again. I know he has not skated for a little bit coming off that injury, but he's come back and he's had some pop and he's had some jump with him. We expect that'll translate hopefully into tomorrow. I don't know if it's a for sure thing. It's still a medical decision in the morning on whether he'll be a go, but he's certainly day-to-day right now. We'd expect him to have a big impact on our lineup tomorrow night if he's able to play."