Photo: Steven Ryan/NHLI via Getty Images

According to The Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, the 2021-22 NHL season will head into the holiday break two days early after 37 NHL games have been postponed due to COVID-19 in the past week.

The Washington Capitals’ first game against the New York Islanders at UBS Arena (which was originally scheduled for Thursday) will be postponed if this is the case. Teams will not be allowed to host any activities at their facilities until Sunday.

Sources tell @DailyFaceoff: #NHL, #NHLPA have agreed to suspend all operations for Dec. 22-25 and will re-open team facilities on Dec. 26 no earlier than 2pm local time. No practice, no testing during those days.

Tuesday’s 2 remaining games will be played – pending test results.

— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) December 21, 2021

37 NHL games have been postponed due to COVID-19 in the past week as more than 100 players have entered COVID-19 protocol.

The Calgary Flames, Florida Panthers, Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings, Nashville Predators, Seattle Kraken and Colorado Avalanche have all been shut down through Christmas due to the virus. The NHL also postponed all games where a team is required to cross the United States-Canada border through the holiday.

The Capitals are currently one of two teams (VGK) that have yet to have a game postponed.

NHL postpones Devils-Penguins for tomorrow. As of right now, only three of 10 scheduled games will be played, and Golden Knights-Lightning is one of them.

Also: now that Pittsburgh has been hit, VGK is one of two teams (Washington) without a postponement this year

— Justin Emerson (@J15Emerson) December 20, 2021

Tuesday’s games between the Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center (7 PM ET, ESPN+) and Tampa Bay Lightning and Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena will be the final games before the NHL’s holiday break. Eight games that were originally set to take place on Tuesday were postponed.

Only one out of four games originally scheduled for Monday were played (five out of 10 on Saturday, four out of eight on Sunday). All four games slated for Wednesday have been postponed and just five out of 15 on Thursday were still left standing before the NHL decided to pause the schedule.

The Capitals’ first game after the holiday is set for Monday against the Ottawa Senators at Capital One Arena but it may not be played if the NHL suspends teams crossing the United States-Canada border.

The league has yet to announce make-up dates for any games postponed due to COVID-19 this month.

According to memo sent to teams/players, schedule resumes Monday, Dec. 27. Also: “Upon return from the holiday break to team facilities, no individual in the team’s travelling party shall enter (other than for testing purposes) until they have a negative test result.”

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) December 21, 2021

By Harrison Brown