In a move that seemed all but inevitable, the Bruins are shutting things down through the holiday break.
The NHL announced on Saturday afternoon the Bruins will shutter operations through at least Dec. 26 — with the next four B’s games postponed to a later date.
The four games are as follows:
- Saturday, 12/18 @ Montreal
- Sunday, 12/19 @ Ottawa
- Tuesday, 12/21 vs. Carolina
- Thursday, 12/23 vs. Avalanche
The Bruins’ next scheduled game is a home contest against the Penguins on Monday, Dec. 27. No makeup dates have been announced for these four postponed games.
Saturday’s game against Montreal and Thursday’s game against the Avs were already postponed prior to Saturday’s sweeping announcement — but the plan as of Saturday morning was for the Bruins to try to press ahead and get in those contests against the Senators and Hurricanes.
However, even though the Bruins had a practice scheduled for Saturday morning at Warrior Ice Arena, the team didn’t even take to the ice — with more testing results likely halting the club and eventually prompting this extended sabbatical. Sure enough, the Bruins announced on Saturday evening that Taylor Hall and Curtis Lazar had entered into COVID-19 protocols.
In a team release, the Bruins noted that the decision was made as a “result of additional positive cases and concern with the continued spread of COVID-19.”
The Bruins also announced that their training facilities will be shut down until further notice.
As of right now, the Bruins have nine players in COVID-19 protocol: Craig Smith, Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, Trent Frederic, Anton Blidh, Jeremy Swayman, Oskar Steen, Hall and Lazar.
In total, there are now five teams in the NHL that have been shut down through Christmas, with Boston joining Calgary, Colorado, Florida and Nashville.
With more than 70 NHL players placed in COVID protocols over the past week, a league-wide shutdown very well could be on the table through Christmas — with three more games canceled this weekend between the Maple Leafs / Canucks, Canucks / Coyotes and Maple Leafs / Kraken.
This post will be updated with more info as it becomes available.
