Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Ilya Samsonov, and Dmitry Orlov are in quarantine and will miss at least the next four games, Washington Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette announced Thursday.

All four players were on the league's COVID list on Wednesday after they violated protocols, which cost the team a $100,000 fine.

More to come.

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Buffalo Sabres netminder Linus Ullmark has been absent for the club's last two games, and on Thursday he revealed why.

After Monday morning's skate, Ullmark's mother gave him the news that his father passed away in Sweden at the age of 63. The 27-year-old was supposed to start that night but understandably told the Sabres he needed to take some time away.

"There was no question about it for me, personally," Ullmark said, according to team reporters Brian Duff and Chris Ryndak.

"I just told them that hockey's not a priority at the time. From there, it was basically just trying to deal with all the emotions that came. I've been kind of holding back."

Ullmark, who's spent his entire six-year career in Buffalo, credited his teammates and the entire organization for supporting him through such a difficult time.

"You never know about these things, how you're going to feel and how you're going to handle it," Ullmark said. "But I feel a lot of gratitude towards the boys, towards the organization, and everyone around it. It's been very supportive ever since they found out so a lot of love to them.

"We're always speaking that we have two families," he said. "We have a family at home and we have our family in the team. That certainly was one of the confirmers about how I feel and hopefully how they feel about the team."

Ullmark plans on practicing with the Sabres Thursday before the club heads to Washington for a pair of matchups with the Capitals on Friday and Sunday.

The Swedish puck-stopper made 19 saves in a 2-1 loss to Washington in his only start so far this season.

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St. Louis Blues head coach Craig Berube wasn't impressed with his team's work ethic following a 2-1 shootout loss to the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday night.

"We have a lot of guys that aren't skating and aren't competing hard enough," Berube said in his postgame press conference.

The Blues' seven penalties in the contest didn't sit well with the bench boss.

"Yeah, PK killed off seven penalties, I mean two 5-on-3s. It's ridiculous, the penalties. We can't go to the box that much," he said.

St. Louis was arguably the better team at 5-on-5, owning 58% of the shot attempts and 57% of the scoring chances, according to Natural Stat Trick. However, the Sharks produced 66% of the expected goals and outshot the Blues 38-23 at all strengths.

The loss dropped St. Louis to 2-1-1 on the season.

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Montreal Canadiens forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi is taking full accountability for his costly penalty during Thursday's 6-5 shootout loss to the Vancouver Canucks.

Kotkaniemi, 20, was called for unsportsmanlike conduct midway through the second period for expressing his frustration toward the officials after Canucks netminder Braden Holtby tripped him with no penalty called. Vancouver scored on the ensuing man advantage to take a 3-2 lead.

"It was just a really dumb thing to do for a young guy," Kotkaniemi said, according to The Athletic's Arpon Basu. "That probably cost us a win, possibly cost us a win tonight. For sure we'll learn from that."

Head coach Claude Julien is hoping his young center can use Thursday's incident as a stepping stone in his development.

"There's no doubt that sometimes players get frustrated," Julien said. "He's a young player, and when you're a young player and you take on a ref - he hasn't earned his stripes yet in the NHL, if you will. He has to be more disciplined than that. That's certainly something he can learn, take a lesson from what happened today."

Kotkaniemi made up for his blunder by burying his first goal of the season to tie the back-and-forth affair with under 10 minutes to play in regulation. He also added an assist earlier in the game and posted a season-high Corsi For of 69.57%, according to Natural Stat Trick.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs will be without Joe Thornton for the foreseeable future after the veteran forward was hurt in the club's defeat to the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night.

"It looks like he's definitely going to miss some time," Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said following his team's 3-1 loss, according to Sportsnet's Chris Johnston.

Keefe added that more tests are required to determine the extent of the injury, according to TSN's Kristen Shilton.

Thornton appeared to jam his wrist while absorbing a hit from Oilers forward Josh Archibald along the boards early in the third period.

The collision occurred less than two minutes into the final frame. Thornton left for the dressing room shortly thereafter and didn't take another shift.

Thornton has one goal and one assist in five games with his new club after signing a one-year contract in the offseason. The 41-year-old collected both of his points in a victory over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.

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The NHL fined the Washington Capitals $100,000 for not adhering to the league's COVID-19 rules.

The Capitals committed "player violations of the league’s COVID‑19 protocols which involved social interactions among team members who were in close contact and who were not wearing face coverings."

No other NHL clubs are being probed for flouting the same rules, reports TSN's Darren Dreger. Washington was labeled as "TBA" on the league's daily COVID-related absences list Wednesday, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

The Capitals are the first team to violate the NHL's COVID-19 protocols this season.

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The Ottawa Senators and franchise winger Brady Tkachuk aren't prioritizing contract talks in the early stages of the 2021 NHL season.

"I love it here. I love the people here, love the community," Tkachuk said during his media availability Wednesday, according to TSN. "But ... we haven't really been talking about that and we don't know how the salary cap is going to look for the next couple years. Honestly, I don't think that's the focus right now on both sides.

"Our only goal right now is to do what we can every single day and make (the) playoffs."

Tkachuk's entry-level contract is set to expire after this season. Ottawa drafted him fourth overall in 2018.

The 21-year-old, who's quickly evolved into a leader on the up-and-coming Senators, is playing top-line minutes early this season. Tkachuk has registered 92 points and 491 hits in 145 games during his career.

Ottawa is projected to have over $34 million in cap space next season, according to CapFriendly. However, the club currently has just 12 players signed.

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