The Flyers now have one less game in their busy November schedule. Their game against the Islanders on Tuesday, November 30th has been cancelled, the NHL announced Saturday afternoon.
“The National Hockey League announced today that as a result of an additional New York Islanders Player entering COVID Protocol this morning, and up to eight Players potentially unavailable to play due to COVID Protocol, as well as the possibility of additional cases due to spread, the team’s games will be postponed at least through Tuesday, Nov. 30. The decision was made by the League in consultation with the NHLPA’s and Club’s medical groups.”
The Islanders have been impacted by COVID recently and they’re the second team this month to have games postponed. The Senators had three games postponed on November 16th, 18th, and 20th.
Health aside, the Flyers catch a bit of a break here with this game being postponed.
Tuesday’s game was slated to be the first half of a home/road back-to-back for the Flyers. They were scheduled to face a rested Rangers team on Wednesday, December 1st. Now, however, the Flyers will have two days off after Sunday’s game in New Jersey before their game at Madison Square Garden.
That extra off day will hopefully give Vigneault & Co. a chance to reset things and get the Flyers back on any sort of positive track. The Flyers are playing some of their worst hockey under Alain Vigneault right now. They’ve lost five straight games and have scored just 24 goals in their last 14 games, going 5-6-3 in that span. After a 4-1-1 start to the season, the Flyers’ process hasn’t gotten any better and they’ve fallen flat on their faces.
With the postponement, the Flyers have a relatively light schedule next week. After playing nine games in 17 days –– including five in seven and three in four –– against some tough teams, they’ll play just two games next week. But it won’t get any easier after that with a back-to-back against the Lightning and Avalanche after that.
The Flyers know all too well how COVID can affect a team as they were heavily impacted last season. The Islanders are now feeling the effects with three games postponed.
