Isles’, Rangers’ & Devils’ games vs. Habs postponed

The NHL and its players association temporarily clamped down on teams crossing the Canadian border and shut down operations of a sixth team on Sunday in hopes of salvaging the season as COVID-19 outbreaks spread across the league.

Canadian-based teams will not play U.S.-based teams from tonight through Thursday, with those postponed games expected to be rescheduled. The league said in a release the decision was made, in part, because of the “fluid nature of federal travel restrictions.” The move affects all three local teams, with tonight’s Islanders-Canadiens game, Wednesday’s Rangers-Canadiens game and Thursday’s Devils-Canadiens game postponed.

The Red Wings were added to the list of teams told to shut down operations, joining the Avalanche, Panthers, Flames, Predators and Bruins. Detroit’s home game against Colorado tonight previously had been postponed and will not take place as scheduled, and the Red Wings’ trip to Minnesota for Thursday’s game was called off.

All told, 27 games have been postponed through Saturday and 12 more through Thursday will be pushed to another date. Roughly 10% of the 700-plus players were in the league’s virus protocol as of Saturday.

All of the COVID-19 disruptions may lead to NHL players staying home instead of participating in the Winter Olympics in less than two months. The NHL has said players can compete in Beijing unless the coronavirus becomes a problem.

The league has until Jan. 10 to opt out of the Winter Games without financial penalty, but it retains the right to cancel its plans up until players are scheduled to travel to Beijing. The NHL and NHLPA said it will announce a final decision in the coming days.