The St. Louis Blues announced on Thursday afternoon that star forward Vladimir Tarasenko and two others, Scott Perunovich and Jake Walman, were placed into COVID protocol.

The Capitals play the Blues Friday night in the first half of a road back-to-back.

3 Blues have been placed in COVID protocols. https://t.co/JkzUkI51H2 #stlblues

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) January 6, 2022

The Blues will especially miss Tarasenko as the talented Russian sniper is their current leading scorer with 34 points (14g, 20a) in 34 games. He is also their only forward to have played in every game to this point.

Perunovich and Walman are both depth defensemen.

On the flip side, the Capitals will have no players unavailable due to COVID for what feels like the first time in months. Though, according to The Washington Post’s Samantha Pell, the Capitals could potentially be without both Nicklas Backstrom (flu) and TJ Oshie (non-COVID illness) for the duration of the two-game trip.

St. Louis will come into Friday night’s action sporting a 19-10-5 record that sees them currently second in the Central Division to the Nashville Predators. They last played Wednesday night in Pittsburgh where they took a 5-3 loss to the Penguins.