Penguins largely unscathed during NHL's ongoing surge with covid-19

The Pittsburgh Penguins have been one of the more resilient teams in the NHL this season.

But not necessarily for their success in the standings. Though, an ongoing seven-game win streak certainly reflects well on their collective mettle.

It’s because they largely have stayed on the ice through the first two-plus month of the season without any games or even practices postponed because of covid-19.

While the virus has wildy disrupted most franchises in the NHL over the past week and change — on Monday night, the league decided to begin its Christmas break early, postponing all Thursday games — the Penguins have forged on relatively unscathed throughout December.

As other teams were placing players into protocols for covid-19 and even closing their facilities, the Penguins took the ice Monday for a tidy practice session in Cranberry that lasted just over a half-hour.

It was business as usual for the Penguins.

That all changed roughly an hour and a half after that session concluded when the NHL announced the Penguins’ home game against the New Jersey Devils scheduled for Tuesday was postponed indefinitely. It marked the first disruption to the Penguins’ schedule this season because of the virus.

Hours later, the team’s home game against the Philadelphia Flyers scheduled for Thursday was postponed when the league began its holiday break early.

Speaking with media in Newark, N.J., Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald indicated he had been lobbying the NHL since Saturday to postpone his team’s games, including the Penguins’ 3-2 road win against the Devils on Sunday, because of a number of players on New Jersey’s roster dealing with a variety of illnesses, not just covid-19.

Additionally, several players on the Utica Devils, New Jersey’s AHL affiliate, have tested positive and were not eligible to be recalled to the NHL roster. Fitzgerald said two players were recalled Friday, but one tested positive upon arrival and the second was ruled to be a close contact to the second.

“We need the rest,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s unfair. It was unfair for the seven players — I won’t mention them (by name) — who have been battling the flu and high temperatures and chills … to play. … It just wasn’t fair. We didn’t have the reinforcements from Utica. So, the league finally saw that this could be detrimental to the future health of our ‘healthy’ players.”

Sunday’s game was hardly a masterpiece. The Penguins, by their own admission, played poorly but still won partly because of facing a depleted Devils lineup.

“Both teams played kind of bad,” said Penguins forward Zach Aston-Reese. “I just think kind of all the news swirling around that games are getting (postponed) and teams are shutting down might have crept its way in (to everyone’s focus). It’s a little tough just to stay focused when you don’t know if you’re going to play or not. Guys are testing and you don’t know if it’s coming back positive.”

For the Penguins, aside from a handful of players dealing with injuries typical of the rigors of hockey, they mostly have been healthy for more than a month as it pertains to covid-19. With the exception of skating and skills development coach Ty Hennes, currently in the league’s protocols for the virus, the Penguins have not had any players or coaches miss games since Nov. 18 because of covid-19.

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan isn’t sure why his team has been largely spared from the ongoing league-wide surge. But he certainly is thankful, especially after being sidelined himself in November.

“We’re trying to do everything we can to mitigate the risk,” he said. “The league has implemented some enhanced protocols. We’re certainly trying to pay attention to those. We’re trying to follow those guidelines. We got hit by some of the covid stuff earlier than some of these teams and we had to grind through it. Maybe that’s part of it. I really don’t know quite honestly, but I’m grateful that we’ve been able to get through the last few weeks here with very few cases.”

Still, the fluid nature of the NHL’s ongoing predicament was never more evident than Monday.

“Hopefully, we’ll be able to play the rest of the season without cancellations,” an optimistic Aston-Reese said about 1 p.m.

By 2 p.m., the NHL announced Tuesday’s postponement.

Aston-Reese was one of the NHL’s first players to test positive for covid-19 this season and was placed into the league’s protocols in September during training camp. Having been bedridden with symptoms during his ordeal, he expressed a sentiment Monday that appears to be growing among NHL players, coaches and management as of late.

“I kind of think we should grind through it,” Aston-Reese said. “I know it’s tough with the way the schedule is with the Olympic break (throughout February). It just seems like there’s no time to (reschedule) those games. I think we play every other day in March and April.

“In my eyes, I’d like to just grind through and not have to push things back.”