CRANBERRY, Pa. -- The NHL on Monday announced that Tuesday's meeting between the Penguins and Devils at PPG Paints Arena has been postponed due to COVID issues affecting the Devils.
A makeup date has yet to be set,
The Penguins will have an 11 a.m. practice in Cranberry instead, the team announced.
The Devils' general manager, Tom Fitzgerald, held a press conference Monday in Newark, N.J., to explain that the Devils aren't expecting any more positive tests on the team, and that he requested the NHL postpone this game because of COVID issues impacting their AHL affiliate Utica Devils, making them unable to safely dress a full team.
"We've got a lot of sick players," he said. "The flu, bronchial things, common cold, head cold. It's things players play through. But when you lose the players we lost to COVID, some of the players are playing beyond the minutes they've played before, stretching them out. On top of it, you don't have the access to call up the quality people we wanted to call up from Utica, because of the situation down there, where there's a lot of close contacts because of a couple of cases that's going on down there. You get handcuffed."
Fitzgerald added that he previously asked the league to postpone Sunday's game against the Penguins, a 3-2 victory for the visitors in Newark. He emailed the league again Monday, and the league obliged this time.
Zach Aston-Reese expressed frustration surrounding the situation following the Penguins' practice Monday, speaking before Tuesday's game had been postponed.
"It's a little tough just to stay focused when you don't know if you're going play or not," he said. "Guys are tested and you don't know what's coming back positive. I know (the Devils) didn't test until like 4 p.m. yesterday. That's what the rumor was."
The Penguins' final game before the holiday break is Thursday at home against the Flyers. The Flyers currently have three players and multiple staff members in COVID protocol, with Kevin Hayes being added to the list on Monday.
UPDATE, 9 p.m.: The NHL will be pausing the season from Dec. 22-25, an adjustment from the original holiday break schedule. This postpones the Penguins' game against the Flyers on Thursday.
