NHL postpones 9 games in Canadian cities due to pandemic attendance restrictions

The NHL postponed nine upcoming games, citing attendance restrictions in some Canadian cities, on Tuesday as COVID-19 continued to sideline players.

The league also postponed Wednesday's Detroit Red Wings game at the New York Islanders two days after the home side placed four of its players in the NHL's COVID-19 protocol and isolated them from their team — bringing the total number of postponements this season to 80.

The NHL and the NHL Players' Association agreed this week to allow teams to form temporary "taxi squads" to help avoid more disruptions to the season, after players returned from an extended holiday break on Sunday.

Last week, the league said it would not be sending players to the men's ice hockey tournament at the Beijing Winter Olympics in February, citing the pandemic's "profound disruption" to its schedule.

The nine postponed games awaiting a new date include:

The Canadiens game against the Bruins on Jan.12 will also be played in Boston instead of Montreal, with the league planning to find a make-up date for the Canadiens' home game against the Bruins.

Two hockey games between the Canadian and U.S. women's hockey teams in Alberta have been cancelled

Canada and the U.S. were scheduled to conclude their Rivalry Series on Jan. 3 in Edmonton during the world junior men's hockey championship and Jan. 6 in Red Deer.

Both games were called off because several Canadian players and staff were in COVID-19 protocol, Hockey Canada said Tuesday in a statement.

"The risk associated with playing the final two Rivalry Series games with less than one month before our teams are set to compete in the 2022 Olympics is too high to finish our series with the United States," said Gina Kingsbury, director of hockey operations with Hockey Canada.

"Changing our schedule and not being able to play the United States is always difficult, as our players and staff want to play against international competition and put on a great show for hockey fans.

"Unfortunately, we need to do what is right for our athletes from a health perspective and for our team preparation in order to ensure everyone remains healthy and eligible for Beijing."

The announcement came the same day the U.S. junior men's team forfeited a preliminary-round game at the under-20 championship to Switzerland because two American players tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.

What was a nine-game series between the Canadian and American women to help both prepare for February's Winter Olympics in Beijing and choose a roster for it was limited to six games.