Major League Baseball (MLB), Major League Soccer (MLS), the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the National Hockey League (NHL) released a joint statement Monday confirming restricted locker room access as a preventative measure against the coronavirus.

"After consultation with infectious disease and public health experts, and given the issues that can be associated with close contact in pre and postgame settings, all team locker rooms and clubhouses will be open only to players and essential employees of teams and team facilities until further notice," the statement read.

"Media access will be maintained in designated locations outside of the locker room and clubhouse setting. These temporary changes will be effective beginning with tomorrow's games and practices.

"We will continue to closely monitor this situation and take any further steps necessary to maintain a safe and welcoming environment."

Each major sports league is currently in the midst of its regular season, with the exception of MLB. The organization remains committed to playing out the remainder of its spring training games and intends to begin the regular season on its scheduled date of March 26, ESPN's Jeff Passan reports. However, that stance is dependent on how the epidemic develops.

Further plans to address the coronavirus are understood to be the subject of discussion in an NBA conference call on Wednesday. A few NHL teams were already limiting media access to help combat the spread of infection, and MLS set up a task force last week to keep up to date with news on the virus and inform clubs of appropriate measures to reduce its risk.

The United States has confirmed more than 650 cases of the coronavirus, including 26 deaths, as reported by NBC. The Canadian government has confirmed 72 cases, while the National Post published news of the country's first death due to the outbreak on Monday.

Across the world, there are more than 108,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 3,800 deaths, according to CNN. Italy is the worst affected country in Europe, resulting in travel restrictions for its 60-million population and postponement of all of its sporting events.

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The San Jose Sharks signed defenseman Radim Simek to a four-year extension, the team announced Monday. The deal is reportedly worth $9 million, according to CapFriendly.

Simek is in the final season of a two-year, $1.35-million contract he signed with the Sharks in 2018 after playing for the AHL's San Jose Barracuda in 2017-18. Simek spent five years playing in the Czech Republic before coming to North America.

"Radim has been an integral piece of our team defense for the last two seasons," general manager Doug Wilson said. "His style of play blends a sound defensive game, coupled with a heavy physical ingredient and good puck-moving skills."

The 27-year-old has appeared in 47 games with the Sharks this season, recording two goals, seven assists, 91 hits, and averaging 17:08 in ice time.

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Following a pair of losses on home ice over the weekend, Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford said he believes his team's recent struggles are just a blip on the radar.

"I am not worried about missing the playoffs," Rutherford told The Athletic's Josh Yohe on Monday. "This is a good team, and we'll be just fine. We're just fine."

He added: "There's no panic here, and no need to panic. We have a good hockey team and we have the guys to get out of this. And we will."

The Penguins soared to the top of the Metropolitan Division with a 13-4-2 surge to kick off the new year, but a 2-8 record since has caused Pittsburgh to slide down the standings.

The club sits third in the division, five points back of the Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers, and holds a three-point edge on the Columbus Blue Jackets, who occupy the East's top wild-card seed.

Rutherford made some big moves leading up to the trade deadline, adding Jason Zucker, Patrick Marleau, Conor Sheary, and Evan Rodrigues. The acquisitions, along with key players returning to the lineup, led some to suggest the Penguins would challenge for the division title down the stretch, but that hasn't been the case.

"The determination from this team, as a whole, was greater when we had people out," Rutherford said. "We were winning then and we were so determined. We didn't look that way as much recently."

The Penguins return to action Tuesday versus the New Jersey Devils, then have a trio of important games against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Carolina Hurricanes, and New York Islanders later in the week.

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Find line reports, best bets, and subscribe to push notifications in the Betting News section.

It was a great weekend as we went a perfect 3-0 with our best bets and 5-2 overall for a tasty profit.

Let's turn that money into more money Monday.

GOATs and scapegoats

A number of guys did us a solid over the weekend, but GOAT honors go to Kevin Fiala. He was a horse for the Minnesota Wild on Sunday, scoring a pair of goals, including the overtime winner on the power play after drawing the penalty following a great individual effort. He helped the Wild to a 5-4 win and ensured a clean sweep of our best bets.

As for our scapegoat, Igor Shesterkin made his first start since Feb. 22 on Saturday, and he was absolutely not up to his old antics. He allowed five goals on 23 shots and didn't even last two periods, leaving us with little chance of cashing our New York Rangers -1.5 bet.

Monday bets

Vegas Golden Knights (+105)

The atmosphere inside Rogers Place should be absolutely electric for this massive Pacific Division showdown. With a regulation win, the Edmonton Oilers would leap ahead of the Golden Knights and into first place, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Vegas is going to spoil the party.

This is the second game of a back-to-back for the Knights, who won 5-3 in Calgary yesterday, and they actually excel in this spot. Vegas has won four straight road games on no rest and is 6-1 this season in this situation. The Oilers have lost their last three home games when they've had at least one day off between games and their opponent is playing on no rest. Edmonton has been playing well, winning four of its last five, but had lost four of five before this run and is 4-3 at home since the start of February. There's good value with Vegas tonight.

Best bet

Winnipeg Jets (-120)

The wild-card race is going to make for incredible entertainment over the final month of the season. The Winnipeg Jets have gotten back into the thick of it by playing some of their best hockey of the season, while the opposite has been true of the Arizona Coyotes, who are in danger of falling out of contention pretty soon.

The Jets have won five in a row at home, allowing just six goals total over that span. That doesn't bode well for a Coyotes team that struggles mightily to score, especially on the road where they've lost 11 of their last 13, scoring two goals or fewer in 10 of those games. Arizona lost 10 of its last 11 visits to Winnipeg and I'd expect a similar fate tonight.

Trend of the night

Of the last 12 meetings between the Los Angeles Kings and Colorado Avalanche at the Staples Center, 10 of them have totaled five goals or fewer.

With a total of 5.5 tonight, the under is certainly in play - it's hit in eight of Colorado's last 10 road games. In addition, the Avalanche scored two or fewer goals in 10 of their last 12 games in Los Angeles, so their team total under 2.5 at +150 might also be worth a look.

Alex Moretto is a sports betting writer for theScore. A journalism graduate from Guelph-Humber University, he has worked in sports media for over a decade. He will bet on anything from the Super Bowl to amateur soccer, is too impatient for futures, and will never trust a kicker. Find him on Twitter @alexjmoretto.

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The national NHL rights holders in both Canada and the United States celebrated International Women's Day on Sunday by featuring broadcast teams comprised entirely of female talent.

Play-by-play voice Leah Hextall, color commentator Cassie Campbell-Pascall, and reporter Christine Simpson worked the Vegas Golden Knights-Calgary Flames game for Sportsnet. They were members of the first all-female lineup - including the broadcast team and the production crew - to present an NHL game, according to Hextall.

Hextall emphatically called Tomas Nosek's opening goal.

On NBC, play-by-play voice Kate Scott called the St. Louis Blues-Chicago Blackhawks game alongside color commentators Kendall Coyne Schofield and AJ Mleczko, marking the first NHL game to be broadcast and produced solely by women in the U.S.

Here's Scott's call of Robert Bortuzzo's opening marker for the Blues:

Both broadcasts were produced by all-female teams. A total of 28 women worked Sportsnet's coverage, either on camera or behind the scenes, while a similar number served as members of NBC's crew.

NBC's telecast also featured studio coverage from Kathryn Tappen and Jennifer Botterill.

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Injured Vancouver Canucks forward Brock Boeser was a full participant in practice on Sunday, and he's hoping to return to the lineup ahead of schedule.

"It's always exciting to skate with the guys and it feels good to be back out there," Boeser said, per the team. "I felt pretty good out there so hopefully I'll be back soon."

General Manager Jim Benning announced Feb. 18 that Boeser was expected to miss at least eight weeks due to a rib cartilage fracture.

Boeser had notched 16 goals and 29 assists in 56 games before being sidelined. His return to the lineup would be a huge boost for the Canucks, who enter Sunday's tilt versus the Columbus Blue Jackets in the Western Conference's first wild-card spot with 76 points.

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