NHL extends holiday break, postpones Dec. 27th games

The NHL announced per a tweet Friday evening that all games scheduled to take place on Monday, Dec. 27th are postponed in order to provide for adequate COVID-19 testing results after teams return from the holiday break.

Teams are still permitted to return to practice on Sunday, Dec. 26.

Fourteen games were scheduled on Monday. Only the Chicago Blackhawks, Montreal Canadiens, New York Islanders and Tampa Bay Lightning are unaffected by these postponements.

The league said in its press release Friday that a further update on its return to play plans will come on Sunday. If an additional rash of positive tests comes in that weekend, it’s exceedingly likely that further postponements will happen.

Fifty games had already been postponed this year, bringing the total number of postponements to 64.