The Flyers wanted the game postponed. The Hurricanes wanted to play. The Flyers are getting their way.
The NHL has postponed Tuesday night’s game between the Flyers and Hurricanes, and the game will be played Wednesday night at 6 p.m. Tickets for January 21 will be honored on Wednesday night.
Both teams are off on Wednesday night, and the Sixers are in New York, so theoretically the teams could play then. The NHL’s CBA, however, prevents teams from playing games on three straight nights, and Carolina has games scheduled on both Thursday and Friday. One would think that this could happen regardless if Carolina’s players sign off on it and the league gets the NHLPA’s blessing, but there’s no guarantee of that happening. but Carolina’s game Friday against Ottawa is likely to be pushed back to Saturday to avoid this little problem.
Carolina has already had one game rescheduled this season due to snow, and the league’s Olympic break will end one day early to accommodate that game in Buffalo. It’s certainly a raw deal for the Hurricanes, who obviously wanted to play tonight because it’s not their fans they need to worry about and they don’t want to make another trip to Philly, but whatever. They’ll live. Safety is more important.
This is the right call. It’s too dangerous for everybody who has to travel to the game — fans, team employees, Wells Fargo Center employees, etc. The teams are already in the building, but the teams and the league can afford to eat whatever expense they’ve already made for this one.
