On Thursday morning, the Boston Bruins had to cancel their morning skate ahead of their game against the Buffalo Sabres in Western New York. Following the cancellation, there were rumors surrounding whether or not the game would be played that night because the Bruins had one player enter the NHL’s COVID-19 protocols.
Buffalo also canceled their morning skate after a staff member was forced to enter the same league protocols.
After more extensive testing by the NHL and the teams, the decision was made to play the game. That decision looks a lot more careless today following the announcement that the next two games for the Bruins, Saturday at Buffalo and Tuesday night at the TD Garden against the New York Islanders was being postponed.
Schedule update: @NHLBruins games Saturday against the @BuffaloSabres and Tuesday against the @NYIslanders have been postponed. https://t.co/gt7KsgWNCe pic.twitter.com/yyAavBtP02
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) March 19, 2021
It was announced prior to Thursday night’s that Boston forward Sean Kuraly had entered the protocols. The game was played and the B’s won their second consecutive game, 4-1, over the Sabres.
On Friday, it was announced that four more Bruins’ players were being put into the league’s COVID-19 protocols and that all Bruins facilities would be closed until at least Wednesday.
Friday afternoon, the names of the Bruins who were being placed on the list was released and it was very familiar names to the fans.
Leading goal-scorer David Pastrnak, David Krejci, Jake DeBrusk, and Craig Smith were the players placed on the protocols list, joining Kuraly.
David Pastrnak, Jake DeBrusk, David Krejci, Craig Smith and Sean Kuraly are all on the COVID-19 Protocol list.
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) March 19, 2021
DeBrusk was held out of a March 13, 4-0 loss to the New York Rangers because of what ended up being a false positive. Charlie Coyle was held out a March 3 against the Washington Capitals at the TD Garden because of a false positive test.
Considering what happened today, there is certainly going to be a lot of questions as to why last night’s game was played. Hopefully, the decision to play last night’s game is going to lead to a bigger breakout and a long shutdown for either the Bruins or Sabres.