Joel Farabee added to NHL COVID Protocol list, will miss game vs. Penguins

Philadelphia Flyers forward Joel Farabee was added to the NHL COVID Protocol list on Thursday. He will miss Thursday night’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Flyers dealt with several players landing on the COVID list a few weeks ago. Farabee is currently the lone Flyers player on the list. They had at least one player on the list from February 7th to the 28th, when Travis Konecny was removed from the list.

Well, it was a good few days.

Hopefully, this is just a false positive or close contact case for Farabee. The other Flyers players came off the COVID list starting last week.

Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby was on the COVID list on Tuesday and Wednesday but was removed on Thursday and is expected to play in tonight’s game.

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Farabee has not missed a game yet this season.

Joel Farabee is off to a great start in his sophomore season. He is tied for the team lead with 10 goals through 19 games – two more goals than he had in 52 games last season. He is second on the Flyers with 19 points, two shy of his total of 21 in his rookie season.

NHL COVID Impact

We’ve already seen how quickly a team can be impacted by COVID this season. Travis Sanheim missed the game on February 7th for “undisclosed reasons” – he was added to the COVID list that day. It was also the Flyers’ last game until the 18th after COVID spread throughout the team.

The NHL has had issues with several teams needing games to be postponed due to COVID. However, most of those occurred earlier in the season. Hopefully, with Crosby only being in COVID protocol for two days and other players having short stints on the list, they are being more cautionary.

The Flyers vs. Penguins game is still on for tonight at 7:00 p.m. EST. They are scheduled to finish their three-game set on Saturday afternoon.

Photo Credit: Heather Barry Images