The NHL has faced numerous hurdles with COVID-19 since the season's start just over a month ago. The league has postponed more than 30 games so far, and nearly a hundred players have appeared on the COVID-19 protocol list from 27 different teams.

Despite the setbacks, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly is confident the league will complete its 56-game schedule and finish the campaign on time.

"We have postponed and had to reschedule 35 games. We've been able to do that fairly seamlessly," Daly told ESPN's Greg Wyshynski and Emily Kaplan on Monday. "I hope that the number of postponements and rescheduling goes down as we go forward, but we haven't even really eaten at all into the buffer period we built into the end of the schedule."

Prior to the beginning of the season on Jan. 13, the NHL announced that the regular season would end on May 8, with playoffs starting May 11. The Stanley Cup is expected to be awarded by July 9.

The league has yet to reschedule some postponed games, and the postseason may get pushed back to make up contests at the end of the regular season. Daly said the league prepared for this scenario and included some flexibility when it created the schedule.

"We've always said we want to be done by the middle of July," Daly said. "Whether that's July 10 or whether that's July 20, I couldn't tell you. As I sit here, we have some flexibility. But that's certainly the zone that we're targeting."

Eighteen teams have already played at least a quarter of their season (14 games), while a club like the New Jersey Devils has hit the ice for just nine contests.

With a wave of players being affected by COVID-19 since the season's start, Daly added he isn't shocked by the numbers given the league's size.

"Quite frankly, we have a lot of players involved, right? We have a lot more than the NBA - around 725 players on active rosters plus taxi squad players plus AHL players. There are just a lot of players around," Daly said.

"Would I have hoped for less cases and fewer outbreaks among clubs? The answer to that is yes. Whether I can say it was a surprise to me, I'm not sure it necessarily is."

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Barry Trotz's New York Islanders put on a defensive clinic Monday night.

New York entered the third period against the Buffalo Sabres leading 3-1, and the Islanders didn't allow a shot on goal during the final frame en route to their victory. It's the first time in club history that the Islanders haven't allowed a shot on goal for an entire period.

"Zero shots is awful," Sabres forward Victor Olofsson said postgame, according to The Athletic's John Vogl.

The Sabres attempted nine shots in the final frame, but none were on the net.

"That's what it comes down to in this league, you're either good enough or you're not," Sabres captain Jack Eichel said. "I think as a group - myself, everyone - we've got to be better."

The Isles didn't completely park the bus either, generating 12 shots and six scoring chances of their own in the third period.

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Auston Matthews took responsibility on behalf of his Toronto Maple Leafs after their collapse against the Ottawa Senators on Monday night.

"We just got a little lackadaisical. ... We definitely blew this one, for sure," Matthews said following a 6-5 overtime loss, according to The Athletic's James Mirtle.

Matthews' second goal of the game gave the Maple Leafs a 5-1 lead in the final minute of the second period, but the Senators rallied with a goal of their own before the intermission and then three more in the third. Evgenii Dadonov tied it with just over two minutes left in regulation and then won it for Ottawa in overtime.

Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe believes Toronto's problems began before the team jumped out to a four-goal lead.

"It started before 5-1," the bench boss said, according to the Toronto Sun's Lance Hornby. "(We were) careless. (There was) something creeping into our game. We gave it to them."

"They only got what we gave them," Keefe added.

Monday marked the first time in franchise history the Senators overcame a four-goal deficit. They were previously 0-237-3 after falling behind by that margin.

Toronto had a 99.97% chance to win after Matthews' second goal, according to The Athletic's Dom Luszczyszyn.

The superstar's markers were his NHL-leading 12th and 13th of the season.

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Monday's game between the Dallas Stars and Nashville Predators has been postponed due to extreme weather conditions that have caused significant power outages in the Dallas area, the league announced.

The postponement came at the request of Dallas mayor Eric Johnson. The American Airlines Center is on the same infrastructure grid as the convention center and hospitals, according to Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News.

"We need those up," the mayor's spokesperson told DeFranks. "I don’t know the status of that grid, but frankly, the Stars game is not critical infrastructure. It’s just not."

Tuesday's game could also be postponed.

"If it's the same situation, power-wise, we’ll ask them to not have the game tomorrow either, postpone it," the spokesperson said.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have landed forward Alex Galchenyuk from the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for prospect Egor Korshkov and defenseman David Warsofsky, the team announced Monday.

This marks the second time Galchenyuk has been traded in three days, as he was shipped from the Ottawa Senators to the Hurricanes on Saturday along with Cedric Paquette for Ryan Dzingel.

Galchenyuk won't need to quarantine before joining the Leafs because he never left Canada, according to TSN's Darren Dreger.

The 2012 third overall pick recorded one goal in eight games with the Senators this year while averaging 9:30 of ice time per contest. He signed a one-year, $1.1-million contract with Ottawa during the offseason.

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Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin expects one of his team's top prospects, Cole Caufield, to turn pro once his college season with Wisconsin wraps up.

"He has progressed a lot in the last year, but again it's too early to tell you exactly what the plans are but expect him to turn pro after this year," Bergevin told reporters Monday. "Now where can he play once his season is over? That remains to be seen."

Bergevin was noncommittal on when Caufield could slot in. He pointed to the mandatory 14-day quarantine that Caufield will likely have to fulfill entering Canada and the Canadiens' status around the April 12 trade deadline, at which point the college season would have concluded.

Montreal drafted Caufield 15th overall in 2019. He has 17 goals and 33 points in 22 games with Wisconsin this season and captured a gold medal with Team USA at this year's world juniors.

Bergevin recommended last year that Caufield spend another season with the Badgers to potentially develop into a player who could make the leap to the pros.

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