2 Penguins in protocol, including Crosby who has symptoms!

This is not the news the Pittsburgh Penguins were hoping for ahead of Thursday night’s matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Both captain Sidney Crosby and defenseman Brian Dumoulin were missing from Wednesday’s practice and head coach Mike Sullivan confirmed that something was indeed wrong. Both Crosby and Dumoulin missed practice after testing positive for COVID-19. Both players are in the COVID protocol right now.

Crosby has mild symptoms and Dumoulin is currently asymptomatic.

Sullivan admitted that his captain feels discouraged.

“I’m sure he’s discouraged. He worked extremely hard to get to this point, and we were all so excited about getting him back in the fold. This puts another road block in front of it. But we’ll control what we can, and we’re hopeful that Sid will return soon.”

Crosby returned to action on Saturday after sitting out the Penguins’ first seven games after undergoing wrist surgery Sept. 8. He now has to be on the sidelines again, this time dealing with COVID symptoms…

Not the start to 2021-22 we bet he was hoping for…