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.