RELATED: NHL Officially suspends season indefinitely
The Blackhawks hosted the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday night in a nationally televised game. The offense erupted for six goals in the 6-2 win after scoring only once in their previous two games. The power play broke out by going 2-for-3 following a 0-for-14 drought. Nicolas Beaudin and Brandon Hagel made their NHL debuts. Dominik Kubalik became the fifth rookie in franchise history to score 30 goals in a single season.
It was a solid night all around for the Blackhawks. But it was a complete afterthought by the time the clock struck zero.
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In the middle of the game, the NBA announced that it had suspended its season indefinitely after a player tested positive for COVID-19. The NHL later released a statement saying it is evaluating all options and will provide an update on Thursday after the NHL and NHLPA reportedly meet via conference call.
Word about the NBA suspending its season didn't get to the Blackhawks until after the game, and their reaction was what you would imagine.
"Just kind of pretty fresh and new to me right now," Patrick Kane said. "But I guess things are getting pretty real around here. It is what it is. We’ll take the recommendations that we get and hope it passes by soon. As players, you want to keep playing the games and keep the season going, and for us, I think we were pretty excited about this three-game stretch we had here, San Jose, Ottawa and Washington, and trying to win these games and get ourselves back into it again."
The Blackhawks don't play again until Friday, but there's a possibility that Wednesday's game at the United Center was their last one for a while. Or, at the very least, the last one played in front of fans.
NHL
"It's tough to imagine playing games in an empty building," Duncan Keith said. "The fans are what make the game. It's tough to comment on what's going to happen, so we'll just wait to find out."
This is an unprecedented situation that has global impact, which was emphasized when President Donald Trump announced the suspension of "all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days" beginning on Friday.
"I don't know what's going to happen," head coach Jeremy Colliton said. "There's lots of stuff. People can speculate. From my perspective, glad we had a good effort here, and I guess we'll see. Obviously I've seen the statement. I think it's smart of the NHL to take their time and talk to the people who know what they're doing. Hopefully that'll help everyone make the right decision."
For now, the Blackhawks will wait to find out what the next step is, just like the rest of us. Anything and everything appears to be on the table at this point.
"It makes you wonder what's going to happen, and it really could be something where we're doing the same thing," Keith said of the NBA's suspended season. "We'll leave that up to the NHL to make the call, and we'll see what happens."
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