Morning Skate: Flat

It is Wednesday, my dudes.

I think NESN put it best as they were beginning last night’s post-game show: there were questions on Tuesday about whether or not the Bruins vs. Golden Knights game would happen at all — it’s safe to say most B’s fans would have preferred the postponement.

Last night’s 4-1 loss to Vegas was a dull affair for the home fans, which is to be expected when your team is down 3-0 after a single period.

The two quick goals by Vegas are survivable if you can limit the damage, but giving up a third goal at 19:59 was pretty much all she wrote.

You’d hope that any lingering COVID issues would have arisen in testing by now, as it’s not terribly likely (though it’s possible) that Brad Marchand and Craig Smith tested positive first and others have some kind of delayed positive.

Still, COVID problems are creeping up in the NHL. The Flames have a mini-outbreak, as do the Hurricanes. Like the Bruins, teams including the Islanders, Canucks, Avalanche, and Oilers have positives cropping up too.

As Pierre LeBrun put it in The Athletic, “it really is amazing (and depressing) how quickly the COVID-19 situation has escalated around the NHL in the last few days.”

LeBrun added that the league and NHLPA aren’t anticipating a complete shutdown at this point, but that league doctors are considering new policies, procedures, etc.

Part of trying to run a professional sports league during a pandemic, I guess — the Premier League in England is dealing with postponing games due to COVID, as is the NBA.

Today’s discussion topic

I don’t think any of us really want to rehash last night’s game, so, uh...what else is new?