The Montreal Canadiens, 16 of whom are sidelined under the Covid-19 protocol, are on hiatus from all activities until Thursday, the NHL franchise announced, after a 5-2 loss on Saturday in Florida . The Canadiens’ next four home games, scheduled until January 10, had already been postponed due to health restrictions in some Canadian cities, while a game against Boston, scheduled for Montreal on January 12, has been moved to the Bruins ice rink.
“Considering all the new positive cases that arise every day, and for the health of our players and staff, we believe that a break in our activities is necessary at this time.Said Jeff Gorton, executive vice-president of hockey operations for the Canadiens. “This break will give our players the time they need to recover so that we can continue the season.The Canadiens, eight of which have been postponed this season, played with a downsized squad of 16 skaters – 11 forwards and 5 defensemen – in their loss to the Panthers on Saturday. A total of 90 NHL games have been postponed this season due to the coronavirus. The truce scheduled for February to allow players to participate in the Beijing Olympics had already been canceled, to allow the NHL to make up some of the delay accumulated this winter.