The National Hockey League (NHL) announced new dates for 12 Montreal Canadiens games on Wednesday.
The schedule changes include nine games at the Bell Centre and three road games.
The NHL took advantage of the fact that its players will not be going to the Olympic Games in Beijing next month to reschedule many of the games that had to be cancelled in December and January due to COVID-19 outbreaks and capacity restrictions in Canadian arenas.
As a result, the Habs will play seven games at the Bell Centre between Feb. 8 and 23. Only one trip, to New York on Feb. 20 for a game against the Islanders, is scheduled during this period.
The Habs will enjoy a long homestand after the end of its current road trip, which is scheduled to conclude with stops in Vegas on Thursday, Colorado on Saturday and Minnesota on Monday.
The Canadiens will return to the Bell Centre on Jan. 27 for a visit from the Anaheim Ducks. The team has confirmed that the games will be played behind closed doors due to current health restrictions, which prohibit spectators from attending events.
The team said in a statement that they will monitor the situation closely and provide an update on the return of fans to the Bell Centre in due course.
That's a total of 98 postponed games inserted in a two-month period by the NHL.
- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Jan. 19, 2022
