After having their game against the Nashville Predators on Tuesday postponed due to COVID-19 exposure, the Carolina Hurricanes will not play their next series. According to NHL.com, the Hurricanes series against the Florida Panthers scheduled for Thursday and Saturday is going to be postponed.
Due to a COVID-19 outbreak among the Carolina Hurricanes, the #FlaPanthers now have the weekend off as they get another two-game series postponed. Of the seven NHL postponements, the Panthers have been part of four. https://t.co/y6oWRdTBUo
— George Richards (@GeorgeRichards) January 20, 2021
Carolina Hurricanes-Florida Panthers Series Postponed
Seeing teams cancelling practices and postponing games has been a constant for the last two weeks. However, due to the COVID-19 situation, this will likely be a routine.
The Carolina Hurricanes were the first team to postpone a game since the season started. It wouldn’t be surprising if they weren’t the only ones. Before the season even started, the NHL announced all Dallas Stars games were postponed until January 22nd, due to multiple positive cases among Stars players.
After playing the first game of the series on January 18th, their second game of the series did not take place. The Hurricanes beat Nashville 4-2. Andrei Svechnikov, Filip Forsberg, Vincent Trocheck, Sebastian Aho, Viktor Arvidsson, and Nino Niederreiter were the goal scorers. Svechnikov and Forsberg had a three-point night each.
After postponing the game, the Hurricanes added four players to the NHL COVID Protocol list. Warren Foegele, Jordan Martinook, Jaccob Slavin, and Teuvo Teravainen have joined captain Jordan Staal on the list. Though initially not on the list, Staal was added on Friday after testing positive. The captain stays in Detroit, where Carolina played their first series against the Detroit Red Wings. They defeated the home team in the first game 3-0 and lost the second 4-2.
Won’t Be The Last
As of now, everything is a go for the Nashville Predators. However, that is subject to change. They are set to play against the Dallas Stars for their opening game of the season on January 22nd.
Originally the game Thursday against the Panthers was to be the Hurricanes home opener. The Panthers were reportedly flying to Raleigh on Wednesday for the game. With the series being postponed, the Panthers will be off once again. They were supposed to be the Stars first opponent this season.
Florida had their first series against the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday and Tuesday and won both games.
It will be interesting to see if the NHL makes up these games in an already tight schedule. The NHL may have to put a week at the end of the season to make up these games. Especially if they are meaningful for the standings.
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