Jonathan Drouin claims not being comfortable with playing next game

The Montreal Canadiens might have won 3-2 in a shootout over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night, it was in an empty Bell Centre without fans to witness some much needed success.

The Canadiens announced about two hours before puck drop Quebec public health officials had requested that no fans attend the game due to the “spiralling rise of COVID-19 cases in the region.”

The Canadiens are scheduled to play the rival Boston Bruins on Saturday. Boston has six players in COVID-19 protocol, including captain Patrice Bergeron and star winger Brad Marchand. And that does not sit well with Habs forward Jonathan Drouin who stated in his post game conference that he was not comfortable with facing a team that is dealing with so many cases at the moment.

This is what he said after the shootout win, per reporter Jean-François Chaumont:

“I’m not really comfortable playing against a team that has so many COVID cases. There are currently seven cases, but there could be three more tomorrow.

“I don’t feel comfortable. That’s not what we heard with vaccines for this year. I know things are changing. Like I said, it’s not ideal.”

Montreal says it has been assured it will be allowed to return to partial capacity at the Bell Centre beginning in January, though as Drouin mentioned things are changing. And clearly the impact is getting to the NHL.

Quebec health officials reported 2,736 new cases of COVID-19 Thursday — the highest number since Jan. 8 — and five additional deaths linked to the disease.

We can understand why Drouin is not feeling great about this…