Devils-Penguins postponed due to COVID

Another day, another postponement. The NHL announced that the New Jersey Devils and Pittsburgh Penguins will not play Tuesday due to “COVID-related issues” affecting the Devils. That means New Jersey is now off through the holiday break, as its game Thursday against the Montreal Canadiens was previously postponed.

Notably, these two teams played just Sunday night, with the Penguins coming out on top 3-2. Nico Hischier, Ryan Graves and Jesper Boqvist were all back on the ice Monday at practice after having been previously in the COVID protocol, but the announcement suggests there are more positive cases in the Devils organization.

The count is now at 43 for postponed games in the NHL, something that could certainly be classified as a “material disruption,” the term used by the league in regard to pulling the plug on the Olympics. There are of course other indicators that the players themselves don’t want to attend, but these postponements likely would have been enough anyway.

There are now just nine games scheduled for this week in the NHL.