The Bell Center skating rink will be very quiet at the beginning of January. Unsurprisingly, the NHL announced late Tuesday that the Canadiens’ first five home games in 2022 would be postponed to a later date. Thus, the games of January 4 (against Washington), January 6 (against Toronto), January 8 (against Buffalo), January 10 (against Columbus) will be postponed, while the January 12 game against the Bruins will instead be presented in Boston. . These five meetings will be postponed to dates that have yet to be determined at the moment. We can assume that the Olympic break in February, which ultimately will not take place, could be used for this purpose, if of course the restrictions are relaxed. The pandemic is obviously the main responsible for these upheavals, but in its press release on Tuesday, the League specifies that these changes are taking place because of “restrictions in terms of assistance”, which means that the Canadian teams affected by these changes expressed reservations about the possibility of having to present matches without being able to sell tickets. The Ottawa Senators, Calgary Flames, Toronto Maple Leafs and Winnipeg Jets will also have to postpone games. The last game the Canadian played at the Bell Center was on December 16, a game presented in front of empty stands against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Richard Labbé, Press