NHL holds off for now
What now?
That's the question the NHL faces after the NBA suspended its season at the completion of Wednesday's games due to Utah's Rudy Gobert contracting the coronavirus.
The NHL released a statement, announcing it is aware of the NBA's decision and that it is "continuing to consult with medical experts and is evaluating the options."
A further update will come Thursday.
"It makes you wonder what's going to happen and it really could be something where we're doing the same thing," defenseman Duncan Keith said after the Blackhawks beat San Jose 6-2 at the United Center in front of an announced crowd of 21,275. "We'll leave that up to the NHL to make the call and we'll see what happens."
Said Patrick Kane, who scored 2 goals: "It's pretty fresh and new to me right now. I guess things are getting pretty real around here. I guess we'll take the recommendations that we get and hopefully it passes by soon. As players you want to keep playing the games and keep the season going."
If games continue, there's a chance the Hawks will play in an empty United Center when they host Ottawa on Friday. After that, they are scheduled to play at Washington on Saturday and at Minnesota on Tuesday.
The Hawks' next scheduled home game - one in which a pregame ceremony to honor the 2010 Stanley Cup team has been planned - is against Minnesota on March 19.
Columbus and San Jose announced they would be playing in empty buildings during their next home games. The Blue Jackets are slated to host Pittsburgh on Thursday.
"It's tough to imagine playing games in an empty building," Keith said. "I mean the fans are what make the game."
There were a decent number of empty seats at the United Center on Wednesday, but no more than we've seen over the past month.
"We appreciate the fans, especially coming out tonight," said Kane, who accidentally touched his face at the end of his interview. "That was a full building and with everything going on we appreciate them coming out and supporting us."
If this was the final home game of the season, the fans got certainly got quite a treat as the Hawks went 2-for-3 on the power play and scored 4 straight goals to erase San Jose's 1-0 first-period lead.
Keith opened the scoring at 4:33 of the second period with his third goal of the season and Kane scored 12 minutes later. Both goals came on the man advantage.
Brandon Saad (21), Alex Nylander (10) and Dominik Kubalik (30) also scored for the Hawks (32-30-8). Alex DeBrincat had 3 assists.
Forward Brandon Hagel and defenseman Nicolas Beaudin made their NHL debuts, Beaudin looking particularly impressive while paired with Keith.
"He played with a lot of poise and patience," Keith said. "He moved the puck, he was in good support positions a couple times early in the first. I tight-turned back and he was right there to pick up the puck. Being in a support position as a defensemen, those are the things that make a good partner and a good defenseman when they're available for their partner to be (there for) outlet passes and make plays."
After the postgame interviews, the Hawks sent an email out announcing an 11:30 a.m. practice at Fifth Third Arena on Thursday.
Whether or not that happens? We'll find out soon enough.
"It's smart of the NHL to take their time and talk to the people who know what they're doing," said Hawks coach Jeremy Colliton. "Hopefully that'll help everyone make the right decision."