CRANBERRY, Pa. -- The Penguins, of course, would have preferred to stick to their original schedule.
To have spent Tuesday preparing for a rematch with the Devils at PPG Paints Arena that evening, then to have a practice the following day before the Flyers came to town Thursday night.
But COVID-19 has scuttled all of those plans. The games against New Jersey and Philadelphia have been postponed, and the holiday break that was supposed to run from Friday through Sunday will span Wednesday to Saturday, instead.
With dozens of players, coaches and staff members from teams across North America testing positive for the coronavirus -- it is believed that more than 130 players are in the COVID protocol -- the league decided to suspend operations a few days earlier than usual and have the shutdown last four days instead of three.
The Penguins haven't had many COVID issues lately and, having won their past seven games, would have liked an opportunity to keep their momentum going against the Devils and Flyers.
"I understand (the rationale behind the pause)," Sidney Crosby said after the team's final pre-break practice. "There are still a lot of teams that have been in a position where they have to shut down. I'd have preferred to keep playing our two games. With the teams' situations, we possibly could have kept playing. But it's not up to us."
And so it is that the Penguins aren't scheduled to play again until Monday, when they're supposed to visit the Bruins. (Assuming Boston has gotten permission from the league to resume the activities that were suspended last week because of a COVID outbreak).
And much as the Penguins are unhappy about having their season disrupted by the pandemic, the NHL's reconfigured holiday break actually could work in their favor for that game.
In a non-pandemic season, the league's collective bargaining agreement would have prevented them from playing, practicing or traveling during the break, which means the Penguins would have had to fly to Boston Monday morning, then have only a game-day skate to get them ready to face the Bruins that evening.
As it is, they will now be permitted to fly to -- and practice in -- Boston Sunday, while still having a game-day skate Monday if Mike Sullivan deems it appropriate, which is entirely possible after his players were off the ice for four days.
And while there's reason to believe that a lot of players might have the edge on their game dulled by being off the ice for four days, their legs might be as fresh as they have at any time since the start of training camp.
"I think that practice will be very high-paced," Evan Rodrigues said. "Get the body going."
At the very least, it should help guys begin to get reacquainted with the skills that got them to this level in the first place.
"You at least have an opportunity to get puck-touches and puck-exchanges that give us an opportunity to knock some of the rust off," Sullivan said. "You'd be amazed. These guys, when they're playing the game throughout the course of the season, they're accustomed to a certain routine and being on the ice and having a certain amount of puck-touches and repetitions daily. When you take that away for a few days, it has an impact. So to get that one practice, plus a morning skate, might help a little bit."
Mind you, there's no guarantee that the game at TD Garden will be contested Monday. Or, for that matter, whether any games in the NHL actually will be held Monday, regardless of current plans.
That hinges on any number of variables, from how the virus spreads among teams over the next few days to possible restrictions the Canadian government could impose on who is allowed to cross that nation's border.
And the Penguins have little, if any, say on how any of those factors play out over the next few days.
"The last two years, you prepare for what you can," Brian Boyle said. "The schedule says what it says now. It is what it is now, so we prepare accordingly. That's kind of the approach. The decisions and how they're made, we just leave that to the people who make them. We try to prepare with all the information we have. We prepare like we're playing Boston on the 27th. ... That's all we really can do at this point."
Boyle, who has missed the past two games because of an unspecified lower-body injury, was cleared for contact during Tuesday's practice, but not all of his teammates are so healthy.
Evgeni Malkin, Bryan Rust and Jake Guentzel participated in the workout, but wore no-contact jersey, while Jason Zucker and Chad Ruhwedel were given "maintenance" days to deal with nagging physical issues. Having the league shut down a few days early might well be a plus for those two.
"For some of our guys, this little bit of a break will be beneficial," Sullivan said.
The Penguins have lost 97 man-games to injury and illness through their first 30 games, compounding the challenges that everyone in their line of work -- and everyone else on the planet, for that matter -- has faced since COVID-19 entered the lexicon nearly two years ago.
So far in 2021-22, they've done it pretty well.
"It certainly challenges your resilience, that's for sure," Sullivan said. "Because we're being faced with unique circumstances that none of us have been through before. ... Hopefully, there's going to be a point where we get on the other side of this pandemic. I think we're all looking forward to that. But in the meantime, we're all trying to do the very best we can to play the hand we're dealt."
Regardless of exactly when circumstances allow them to play that hand. Or their next game.