COVID shuts down Bruins through December 26

Christmas break has come early for the Bruins, but this is surely not how anyone would have liked the early pass to be granted.

With COVID cases surging on the Bruins and across the NHL, the league – in conjunction with the NHLPA and the teams’ medical staffs – has postponed the B’s game that had been scheduled for Sunday in Ottawa and Tuesdays’ game that had been scheduled against Carolina at the Garden. With Thursday’s scheduled game against Colorado at the Garden and Saturday’s tilt in Montreal already postponed, that takes the B’s into the regularly scheduled three-day holiday hiatus. Makeup dates have not yet been set.

As of now, the B’s and Nashville Predators joined the Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche and Florida Panthers who are shut down through Dec. 26.

The Bruins have also shut down their Warrior Ice Arena practice facility until further notice.

The B’s next game is scheduled for December 27 against the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Garden.

Additionally, the league postponed the Maple Leafs’ weekend games against the Vancouver Canucks and Seattle Kraken as well as Sunday’s Arizona Coyotes-Canucks games due to the growing number of cases within the Toronto and Vancouver organizations.

Throughout the last week a total of nine Bruin players and two staffers went into COVID protocol. First it was Craig Smith, then Brad Marchand, then Patrice Bergeron before Jeremy Swayman, Tent Frederic, Anton Blidh and Oskar Steen were placed in protocol. On Saturday after it was announced that Taylor Hall and Curtis Lazar were also placed in protocol.

The Bruins were scheduled to practice at Warrior at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday with the hopes of making a quick trip to Ottawa and back on Sunday for a 5 p.m. game. But while the players’ water bottles were lined up on the dasher, the players never came out as players were undergoing the testing that would eventually lead to the postponements of the remainder of this week’s games.

 

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3p4TUBg