NHL postpones five remaining games, moves Christmas break to start on Wednesday

The NHL is shutting down for Christmas two days early.

The league is set to postpone its remaining five matchups on Thursday, extending the break that was initially supposed to start after the Golden Knights face the Kings on Thursday night.

Link to tweet

All team facilities are shutting down from Wednesday through Saturday in an effort to combat the recent wave of COVID-19. Players are slated to return to facilities on Sunday for daily testing, and the league plans on resuming the schedule on Dec. 27. As of Monday night, 15 percent of NHL players are in COVID-19 protocols, per ESPN's Emily Kaplan.

The latest outbreak has caused the closure of 10 NHL team facilities, and postponed 44 games in the past two weeks. Including games that were moved on Wednesday, 49 total matchups have been postponed in the 2021-22 season. The league also recently introduced stricter COVID-19 protocols in an attempt to slow down the outbreak.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nhl/nhl-postpones-five-remaining-games-moves-christmas-break-to-start-on-wednesday/ar-AAS0AsT