Tuesday night’s Islanders’ game against the Sabres at Nassau Coliseum has been postponed, the team announced.
An NHL source said no makeup date has been immediately set and it won’t necessarily be on Wednesday, even with the teams also scheduled to play at the Coliseum on Thursday night.
The Sabres were unable to travel from Buffalo as scheduled on Monday because of the winter storm that dumped up to 20 inches of snow on Long Island. They rescheduled their team flight for Tuesday morning but that also was canceled.
The Islanders’ announcement indicated the NHL postponed Tuesday’s game because of the league’s COVID protocol. The Sabres played a two-game series against the Devils this past weekend in Buffalo and, on Monday, the NHL announced all Devils’ games through at least Saturday had been postponed as a result of an outbreak.
“Due to weather conditions yesterday, the Sabres altered their travel schedule so as to fly today to New York,” the Islanders’ announcement said. “So that required COVID contact tracing and testing protocols can be completed appropriately, the decision has been made to reschedule the game for a future date.”
Tuesday night’s game was supposed to be the start of a three-game homestand for the Islanders and a stretch of five of their next six games at home.
The Islanders’ last had a home game postponed because of weather on Jan. 23, 2016, when a snowstorm prevented them from hosting the Flyers at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
