COVID-19 leads to two Flyers games being postponed
By Matthew C
The Philadelphia Flyers will have more off-days than they expected this week. The National Hockey League, in conjunction with the New Jersey Devils, announced that the games between the New Jersey Devils and the Philadelphia Flyers this upcoming Thursday and Saturday will not be played as scheduled.
There is no make-up date in place. The league is working with the Devils to re-evaluate their regular schedule.
The cancellation of the Devils-Flyers game is a direct result of the massive outbreak on the New Jersey Devils team that landed ten players on the COVID-19 protocol list as of Monday. It is not a direct result of Travis Sanheim being placed on the list. The Devils have not played a game since their outbreak began on January 31st.
The Flyers will now have five days off. Their next game after the Tuesday night game against Washington is in New York versus the Rangers. It’s unclear if the league will adjust the regular season for the Flyers so they have a game sometime this week in place of the Thursday and Saturday game being postponed.
It’s a shame no Flyers hockey will be played for five consecutive days, but the safety and health of all individuals must come first and that’s the message the league and all teams are trying to push across – a message that everyone should agree with.
The Flyers and Devils are not set to play each other again until March so that provides plenty of time for the Devils to finally overcome the health crisis they’re under right now. While it is certainly unpredictable, the league and all its teams are trying to do everything they can to prevent something like an outbreak from happening.
It’ll be interesting to see how the COVID-19 situation handles itself in the National Hockey League this year.