The Penguins' two home games against the Devils this week have been postponed, the NHL announced Monday.
The postponement is due to positive COVID-19 cases on the Devils. The Devils added four players to their COVID Protocol list on Monday, bringing their total to 10 players: Mackenzie Blackwood, Connor Carrick, Aaron Dell, Andreas Johnsson, Janne Kuokkanen, Michael McLeod, Kyle Palmieri, Sami Vatanen, Pavel Zacha and Travis Zajac.
The Penguins were scheduled to play the Devils Tuesday and Thursday. With those games being postponed, their next game action won't be until Saturday when the team travels back to New York to play the Islanders.
"It's something that we had to expect coming into this season," Jason Zucker said after Monday's game of the postponement. "We're putting our trust in the league and infectious disease team and doctors, making sure that they're going to put the right decisions. I feel that they are, they're doing a great job so far. We have to respect their decision and just be ready when the puck drops, whenever they tell us we're going to play next."
"Coming into this season, we knew this was going to be a possibility, that we'd have to deal with this at some point, whether it's our team or a different team," Casey DeSmith said.
With a decimated blue line and a power play that desperately needs work, this extra time off could be a blessing.
"Just take the next couple days to rest up, get some really good practices in, improve the special teams, stuff like that," DeSmith said of the next few days. "Just use the time for something positive."
"We're going to welcome this practice time these next few days to get ready for our next games," Zucker said.
"We're going to try to maximize it," Mike Sullivan said. "We've got an opportunity to work on some of these things where we know we've got to improve and try to get better. Special teams will be a big priority for us. We'll try to maximize the opportunity that's been given to us this week out of the necessity with some of the COVID protocols."