Oilers players shocked by situation in Montreal

The National Hockey League announced on Tuesday that, as a result of two Montreal Canadiens Players being in the NHL’s COVID Protocols, the team’s games have been postponed through Sunday, March 28. Pending test results in the coming days, it is expected that the Canadiens will be able to re-open their facilities for practice on Monday, March 29. 

This meant that three of the Habs’ games against the visiting Edmonton Oilers are getting postponed with the team already in the city. This was a shocked for the players, who were already caught off guards on Monday when the first of the three contests was postponed shortly before puck drop, making it the first contest in the all-Canadian North Division to be shut down due to COVID-19 concerns. 

Reporters met with players from the Oilers’ roster to get their reactions to the decision and most of them are shocked at how the situation unfolded. 

“It was a little bit shocking,” head coach Dave Tippett admitted, per the Montreal Gazette. “I’ve been around the league a long time. There were times games were cancelled because of a lockout. Getting postponed 15 minutes before warm-up — that one’s never happened before.

“It’s not a normal season,” he added. “There’s going to be challenges.”

Defenseman Darnell Nurse explained how, especially this season in a world pandemic, you cannot take anything for granted. 

“That’s the world today, the world during this pandemic,” the Oilers defenseman said. “You have to be flexible, roll with the punches. We can’t let that derail what we have going on here.”

The Oilers return to Montreal April 5. It remains to be seen when the three postponed contests will be rescheduled. 

“The players are trying to be as careful as possible, more so than the public,” Tippett said. “We’ve been watching ourselves a long time. It has become the norm. It’s unfortunate situations like this happen. We all knew there was a possibility.”

The NHL has now postponed 41 games due to COVID-19 protocol since the season began on Jan. 13.

And who knows if more will be added to this list.