When asked about his time in protocol J.T. Miller said he feels used to dealing with COVID layoffs now, but that even with so many teammates out his focus remains squarely on winning the next game regardless of circumstance.

“It’s very cliché, but you take it game by game and we have a lot of tough opponents coming up,” Miller said. “It’s going to be hard but I think we’re gonna be excited to embrace the challenge, and I think we totally understand it doesn’t matter who we’re playing on what night, we need two points.”

Head coach Bruce Boudreau was able to provide an update on a number of players under protocol, with Jaroslav Halak and Conor Garland slated to return in Winnipeg on Thursday and Bo Horvat expected back against Calgary on Saturday. As for Miller, Boudreau didn’t need to say much about what his absence and subsequent return means for the team.

“He’s our leading point guy, he’s probably our leading spokesman in the room, he’s a really good hockey player,” Boudreau said. “The last two games we played really hard and I thought we played well, but we certainly lacked a bit of scoring and J.T. can provide that.”