(Reuters) – The National Hockey League has postponed Tuesday’s game between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Washington Capitals due to COVID-19 issues impacting the Capitals, bringing to 50 the number of NHL games that have been postponed amid rising cases.
The league said a new date for the game has yet to be decided.
The postponement comes one day after the league and its players’ union agreed to postpone five games and begin their holiday break on Wednesday instead of Friday, with the league resuming on Dec. 27.
COVID-19 cases surged across the United States last weekend with the fast-spreading Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus becoming dominant.
The disruptions to the NHL schedule cloud the league’s plans to send the world’s top players to the Feb. 4-20 Beijing Olympics.
The NHL agreed to a break in its schedule to allow players to compete in Beijing, with the caveat that it could withdraw on its own if an abundance of COVID-19 disruptions forced games to be rescheduled during the Olympic window.
The NHL and NHLPA are in discussions and are expected to announce a decision soon about whether to participate in the Beijing Games.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
