The Ottawa Senators’ next three games have been postponed as a result of 10 players currently in NHL COVID-19 protocol and “evidence of continued spread in recent days,” the NHL announced Monday.
The Leauge also announced Ottawa’s training facilities have been closed and will remain that way for players until further notice.
Ottawa’s scheduled games at the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday, and home against the Nashville Predators on Thursday and the New York Rangers on Saturday, have been postponed. Rescheduled dates for each of the three games are to be determined, the NHL said. The Senators are still scheduled to play at the Colorado Avalanche on Nov. 22.
The Senators (4-10-1) had the 10 players in protocol for their 4-0 home loss to the Calgary Flames on Sunday: forwards Drake Batherson, Austin Watson, Alex Formenton, Dylan Gambrell and Connor Brown, defensemen Nick Holden, Victor Mete, Nikita Zaitsev and Josh Brown, and goalie Matt Murray.
Batherson, who leads the Senators with 16 points and seven goals, initially tested positive Nov. 13, but two subsequent negative tests allowed him to be in the lineup and he scored four points (two goals, two assists) in a 6-3 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins. He was placed back in protocol the next day.
The Senators announced on Nov. 6 that Watson had been placed in protocol. They cancelled their practice on Nov. 8 for precautionary reasons after Nick Holden and associate coach Jack Capuano were placed in protocol the previous day. Later that day, the Senators announced Brown and Gambrell were placed in protocol. Mete went into protocol on Nov. 9, Brown on Nov. 10, Murray, Forementon and Zaitsev on Nov. 11.
They haven’t practiced since Nov. 5. They played games on Nov. 9 (at the Boston Bruins), Nov. 11 (vs. the Los Angeles Kings) and Nov. 13 (vs. Pittsburgh).
“It’s tough, it’s weird,” captain Brady Tkachuk said of not being able to practice. “You just get ready in a pregame skate and get ready for the game. It’s definitely different having not experienced it before but it’s the adversity that’s laid out in front of us and that we have to learn from and be better because of it.”
These are the first games postponed this season due to the COVID-19 concerns. The NHL had 55 games postponed last season; all were made up as part of a 56-game schedule.