The Winnipeg Jets will no longer be facing off against the Predators in Nashville on Tuesday after the NHL announced a number of games will be postponed due to a COVID-19 surge.
The Jets will host St. Louis on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. in their final home game before Manitoba Health’s recently imposed 50% capacity restrictions at Canada Life Centre go into effect Tuesday, December 21 at 12:01 a.m. and will continue through at least January 11.
That ruling will affect four games during that time frame. Monday, December 27 vs Minnesota. Wednesday, December 29 vs Chicago. Saturday, January 8 vs Seattle and Monday, January 10 vs Minnesota.
Jets Head Coach Dave Lowry said after Saturday’s practice that injured forward David Gustafsson was considered day to day, while forward Evgeny Svechnikov would likely be out longer than that after both players were hurt during Friday’s 5-2 loss to Washington. Gustafsson left in the first period and Svechnikov was not on the ice for the final 7 or 8 minutes of the game.
In a press release Saturday, the league said several Boston Bruins and Nashville Predators games will be postponed at least through to the end of the holiday break on Dec. 26, due to “concern for a rising number of positive cases, as well as the potential for continued COVID spread in the coming days.”
Three games will be affected for the Predators, including the Dec. 21 matchup with the Jets, while the Bruins will see four games postponed.
Winnipeg meanwhile is still scheduled for its final game before the holiday break on Wednesday in Dallas.
Additionally, the league says “a number” of Toronto and Vancouver players entered COVID protocol over the past two days, and consequently Saturday’s Toronto-Vancouver game and Sunday’s Arizona-Vancouver and Toronto-Seattle games have been postponed.
The Canucks have Tyler Myers, Tyler Motte, Brad Hunt, Juho Lammikko, Tucker Poolman and Luke Schenn, along with assistant coach Jason King, in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol.
The Leafs are also short-handed with John Tavares, Alex Kerfoot, Jason Spezza and Wayne Simmonds on the protocol list.
The league says it’s in the process of reviewing and revising its regular-season schedule, and that Saturday’s decision was made by the NHL’s, the player’s association’s, and the clubs’ medical groups.
The Manitoba Moose are also seeing a handful of games postponed for similar reasons.
The Moose were to play Iowa Saturday night, but that game has been pushed back to Jan. 19.
Additionally, a pair of games against Texas – originally set for this coming Tuesday and Wednesday – has been postponed, with no make-up dates set.
The club says the decision was made “due to league COVID-19 protocols and related travel concerns.”
— with files from The Canadian Press
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