It’s game on for the Detroit Red Wings and Carolina Hurricanes, though the Wings just had to place Robby Fabbri and Michael Rasmussen in COVID-19 protocol.
There had been some doubt whether the Canes would be able to host the Wings on Thursday after losing four players to COVID-19 protocol Tuesday, forcing their game against the Minnesota Wild to be postponed. But a little after 1 p.m., the Canes took to social media to announce, “Tomorrow’s game vs. Detroit is ON!”
It will be the first game against his old teammates for Wings goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic, who was acquired in a trade in the offseason. He said after making 33 saves in Tuesday’s 2-1 victory over the New York Islanders that he had circled the date on the calendar as soon as the schedule was released.
MORE FROM ST. JAMES: What Robby Fabbri’s extension shows about Steve Yzerman’s rebuild
The Canes-Wild game was the ninth postponed this season.
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 rescheduled from Feb. 21 to Feb. 20.
The Wings continue to be impacted by the pandemic. On Wednesday, they placed Fabbri and Rasmussen in protocol. Forward Tyler Bertuzzi and defensemen Marc Staal and Danny DeKeyser just emerged from protocol.
It’s been a tough week around the league: The Flames had three games postponed Monday, but that seems optimistic given Wednesday’s announcement that in total, seven players, seven support staff and three coaches are in protocol.
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.