The NHL will soon be heading to Canada to resume play. Teams will be based in Toronto and Edmonton which will serve as the hub cities for the 24-team Cup Qualifiers and the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The 12-Eastern Conference teams will be based in Toronto while the 12-Western Conference teams will play in Edmonton. Edmonton will also host the Eastern Conference Final, Western Conference Final and Stanley Cup Final, which is tentatively scheduled to begin September 22nd and will end no later than October 4th. According to the league, each venue will host up to three games a day with a potential 52 games being played over nine days during the Qualifiers. The start times for the Qualifiers in Toronto will be noon, 4pm and 8pm while western games will run at 2pm, 6:30pm and 10:30pm.
The Pittsburgh Penguins will face-off against the Montreal Canadiens in the qualifying round.
The Penguins held their first full practice Monday at their Cranberry Township facility. Nine players were held out of practice as a precaution because of possible secondary exposure to the coronavirus. The names missing from practice included winger Patric Hornqvist and defenseman Juuso Riikola.
As the entire NHL returned to practice Monday – the NHL announced a total of 43 players had tested positive for COVID-19.
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