The NBA’s Mavericks and NHL’s Stars in Dallas have had another game each called off because of severe winter weather in Texas, with one of the postponements coming in Houston.
The Rockets’ home game against the Mavericks scheduled for Friday was postponed along with a meeting in Dallas between the Stars and Tampa Bay Lightning set for Saturday as the Lone Star State deals with frigid temperatures, power outages and issues with water supplies.
The NBA said Thursday it was calling off the Dallas-Houston game because of a “government shutdown” of the Rockets’ arena in downtown Houston. The same reason was given for a postponement of the Mavericks’ game against Detroit in Dallas that was supposed to be played Wednesday.
The NHL said the decision to postpone a second consecutive Tampa Bay-Dallas game — the first was supposed to be Thursday — was made after consultation with city and state officials. It was the fourth straight home game postponed for the Stars.
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson was among the first to encourage the club to postpone games as the city began struggling with outages early in the week. The first two postponements were Monday and Tuesday against Nashville.
Power hasn’t been an issue at American Airlines Center because it is located on a critical grid that includes hospitals and the city’s convention center.
Tampa Bay defeated Dallas in six games in the Stanley Cup Final in September before both teams ended up in the same division when the NHL reconfigured to deal with COVID-19 issues. The first four meetings have now been postponed.
The Lightning and Stars were supposed to play twice in the first week before COVID-19 issues with the Stars forced them to postpone their first four games of the season.
Dallas now has eight games that need to be rescheduled. The next scheduled game for the Stars is Monday at Florida, the start of five road games in eight days. Two of those games are against Tampa Bay.
The most recent game for the Stars was a 4-3 shootout loss to Carolina on Saturday. The Mavericks haven’t played since losing to Portland 121-118 the next night. The next game for the Mavericks is Monday at home against Memphis.
Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
