The Detroit Red Wings will have to play at least one makeup game because the Colorado Avalanche’s season has been put on pause through the Christmas holiday break because of COVID-19.
The Wings had been scheduled to play the Avs on Monday at Little Caesars Arena, but the NHL shut down the Avs on Friday due to the organizations’ multiple positive cases. The Calgary Flames and Florida Panthers have also had their seasons delayed.
The Wings are scheduled to play the New Jersey Devils at 8 p.m. Saturday, hours after the Pistons host the Houston Rockets at noon. It will be the first time LCA hosts the Wings and Pistons on the same day since opening in October 2017.
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The Wings are dealing with players in protocol, too. Wednesday saw Robby Fabbri and Michael Rasmussen test positive, two days after Marc Staal and Tyler Bertuzzi emerged from their 10-day quarantines. Danny DeKeyser also spent time in protocol this season.
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There were 55 games postponed last season because of the pandemic. The Wings played through their schedule when five players (Adam Erne, Robby Fabbri, Filip Zadina, Sam Gagner and Jon Merrill) caught the virus a week into the season, but the disruption to other teams’ schedules caused a Wings’ home game against the Florida Panthers to be rescheduled from Feb. 21 to Feb. 20.
Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her book, The Big 50: The Detroit Red Wings is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.