BUFFALO — The Bruins on Friday became the latest NHL team to trip and fall amid the league’s ongoing treacherous tap dance around the coronavirus pandemic.
And, oh, what a trip.
The NHL announced that five Bruins — including elite goal scorer David Pastrnak — officially were unavailable after being placed in COVID-19 protocol.
Three other forwards — Jake DeBrusk, David Krejci, and Craig Smith — also joined the list, along with fellow forward Sean Kuraly, who entered into protocol Thursday after testing positive.
The lengthy list of “unavailables” led the NHL to postpone the Bruins’ next two games — Saturday’s matinee here with the Sabres and Tuesday’s match against the Islanders at TD Garden.
Being placed in protocol does not necessarily mean a player has tested positive for the virus or is experiencing symptoms. A player can land on the list for a variety of reasons, including having close contact with a teammate or staff member who has tested positive or is displaying symptoms.
All of the Boston players in protocol, other than Kuraly, played Thursday vs. the Sabres. Krejci, who centered a line with DeBrusk and Smith, picked up a season-high three assists. DeBrusk and Smith each scored a goal.
It’s possible all three of those players tested positive. It’s also possible that only, say, one tested positive but all three were rendered “unavailable” because they are linemates and therefore spend considerable time next to one another, including sitting shoulder-to-shoulder on the bench between shifts.
Tuesday’s Bruins-Islanders game was to be the first this season with fans allowed inside TD Garden; some 2,100 spectators were expected in the Causeway Street arena, in keeping with the state’s 12 percent capacity limit for large gatherings.
Per standing agreement between the league and the players’ union, the Bruins will be shut down at least through Tuesday. If no more players test positive over the weekend and into early next week, they will be back on the ice for practice Wednesday and back in action Thursday vs. the Islanders at the Garden.
However, if the positives start to pile up, the shutdown could be extended. It’s also possible, though unlikely, that any positive tests Friday prove to be false, which would improve the chances of a Wednesday restart.
The Bruins, who were packed up here by early afternoon Friday for the trip back home, issued no statement pertaining to the pause and did not make a team member available to the media here.
A team media relations representative, in a series of text exchanges with a Globe reporter, said the Bruins were adhering to guidance from NHL headquarters in New York. There could be a statement Saturday.
Tuesday’s game was to kick off an unprecedented eight-game homestand at TD Garden. It could still be eight games, but only if Tuesday’s game is rescheduled prior to the Bruins’ next road game April 6 in Philadelphia.
According to TD Garden spokeswoman Tricia McCorkle, Tuesday’s postponement does not alter the Garden’s plan to reopen to fans at the earliest opportunity, which would be Thursday, if nothing changes.
Now 16-8-4 following Thursday night’s 4-1 win over the Sabres, the Bruins have completed the first half of their 56-game schedule. If the Saturday and Tuesday games are rescheduled, the Black and Gold will play their remaining 28 games across 45 days, wrapping up on May 8.
So what already was a daunting, compressed schedule could become a virtual straitjacket. The revised schedule, with a May 8 endpoint, would mean averaging one game every 1.6 days. For a team already with an abundance of injured players, it portends to be an exhausting, potentially dangerous back half of the season.
An NHL spokesman said the league has built some “wiggle room” into the schedule and can accommodate games being played the week of May 9-15. That likely would mean delaying the start of the playoffs, currently in the books for May 11.
The Bruins had their schedule impacted by COVID-related postponements earlier this season, but not because any of their players or staff members were placed in protocol.
They have had three players — Charlie Coyle, Jake DeBrusk, and Kuraly — sit one game because of positive tests. In the cases of Coyle and DeBrusk, they returned immediately after their results were deemed false positives.
Other clubs, including the Sabres, haven’t been as fortunate. The Stars, Devils, and Sabres all have endured protracted lockdowns.
The Sabres skated here at KeyBank Center for an hour Friday morning under Don Granato, their newly named interim coach. It was close contact with Devils players earlier this season that led the Sabres to endure a protracted shutdown.
“So there’s definitely some nerves in the room,” said 20-year-old Sabres center Dylan Cozens. “We don’t want to get shut down again. We are just hoping that it didn’t transmit to any of us, but we’re just kind of taking it day-by-day right now.”
“A lot goes through your mind because of six weeks ago,” said Granato, reflecting on the club’s earlier lockdown. “We don’t have a lot of information yet, so that still goes through your mind. It puts you in wait-and-see, and no one likes to go through that. It is a challenge.”
Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at kevin.dupont@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeKPD.
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