Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury has rejoined the club after returning a false positive COVID-19 test, the team announced.

Fleury will start Friday versus the St. Louis Blues, according to David Schoen of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Vegas placed Fleury on the NHL's COVID-19 protocol list Thursday, one day after he started versus the Minnesota Wild.

The 36-year-old is a strong Vezina Trophy candidate at the midway point of the season, posting a .938 save percentage and 1.73 goals-against average in 17 appearances.

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Tampa Bay Lightning superstar Nikita Kucherov resumed skating this week and is still progressing toward a return for the playoffs, general manager Julien BriseBois said Friday, according to The Athletic's Joe Smith.

Kucherov underwent hip surgery in December and was ruled out for the regular season.

BriseBois is treating Kucherov's postseason return like a major trade-deadline acquisition. It's unlikely the club will add anyone else due to financial restraints.

"We literally have zero cap space," BriseBois said.

Kucherov's injury allowed Tampa Bay to stash his $9.5-million cap hit on the long-term injured reserve, freeing up room to make some crucial offseason signings. The Bolts would be roughly $10 million over the $81.5 million cap if the 2018-19 MVP was healthy right now. There's no salary cap in the playoffs.

The Lightning aren't struggling without their star winger while posting an 18-5-2 record. Kucherov registered 85 points over 68 games last season, and then he led the playoffs in scoring with seven goals and 27 assists in 25 contests as Tampa captured the Stanley Cup.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs traded defenseman Mikko Lehtonen to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for goaltender Veini Vehvilainen, the club announced Friday.

More to come.

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Columbus Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella provided some insight into his decision to bench Patrik Laine for the majority of the third period and all of overtime in Thursday's 5-4 loss against the Florida Panthers.

"You guys think I don't want to play Patty? I mean, I want to play him," Tortorella said Friday, according to team reporter Jeff Svoboda. "But I still have to make calls as far as how the players are playing at that particular time.

"I thought Patty probably played one of his best periods in the first period," he continued. "He played really well. But I also have to make calls as the rest of his game is going on where he is at that particular time, especially late in the third period and us reeling a little bit.

"There's no free passes because you're notably the top gun."

Laine snapped a seven-game pointless streak after tallying a goal and an assist. Despite the offensive production, the 22-year-old only saw the ice for 2:20 in the third period and didn't play during the final seven minutes of regulation or in overtime after his line was on the ice for two goals against in the final frame.

The sniper was puzzled by his lack of ice time after the game, and said he thought he was "playing good." Tortorella doesn't necessarily see his decision to limit Laine's ice time as a benching.

"I didn't bench anybody last night," he said, according to Svoboda. "I just decided to play some other people in situations late in the third period that I felt more comfortable with at that time."

After owning a 4-1 lead against the Panthers, the Blue Jackets allowed three straight goals in the third period before falling in overtime. Columbus currently sits in fifth place in the Central Division with a 10-12-6 record.

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New York Islanders captain Anders Lee will be sidelined indefinitely with a lower-body injury, the team announced Friday.

Lee was in visible pain on the ice after getting tangled up with the New Jersey Devils' Pavel Zacha during Thursday's 5-3 victory.

The 30-year-old leads the Islanders with 12 goals this season and has also racked up seven assists in 27 games. After Thursday's win, the Islanders find themselves in first place in the East Division.

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