Flyers-Capitals Game Postponed Due to Ongoing COVID Issues
One of the challenges with navigating the NHL season was going to be potential issues with COVID-19. It seemed inevitable that not just one team, but several, would be dealing with this at some point and having to navigate through it.
The Flyers already had to an extent, when they confirmed that Shayne Gostisbehere tested positive during training camp and missed the start of the season. However, now things have seemed to progress to a much more severe point.
Travis Sanheim landed on the NHL’s COVID Unavailable list on Sunday, just ahead of the team’s game against the Washington Capitals. The game was still played after all players took rapid COVID tests and got clearance to play, but it appears that there is at least one additional positive test now being added to the list and there is potential for more to come.
As a result, the Flyers game on Tuesday night against the Washington Capitals has also been postponed, in addition to their games on Thursday and Saturday against the New Jersey Devils.
The Flyers played the Devils on Jan. 26 and 28, and the Devils had an outbreak that has affected over three-quarters of the team start on Jan. 29 with Travis Zajac going on the COVID list. As of Monday, the Devils had 19 players on the COVID list.
By virtue of the Devils outbreak, the Flyers already had a pause in their schedule to begin with later this week, which the league will now extend by postponing Tuesday’s game and keeping the Flyers off until Sunday at the earliest. The league may also decide to postpone that game, which was moved from next Tuesday to this Sunday on the road against the New York Rangers, to extend the gap between Flyers games from Sunday’s in Washington to next Thursday when the Flyers would host the Rangers.
For now, the Flyers have off until Sunday, but we will see if there is more to come as a result of this.