Chicago Blackhawks game at Buffalo Sabres postponed due to snow-related travel ban in New York

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The Chicago Blackhawks' Wednesday game in Buffalo, New York, has been postponed amid a travel ban due to to poor weather conditions.

The Buffalo Sabres made the announcement at 11:45 a.m. on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The game will now be played at 7 p.m. on Thursday.

The league announced the game scheduled for Wednesday night would instead be played Thursday night. There's a travel ban in place for the city of Buffalo, and local executives were hoping the league would move back the game in the name of public safety.

The Blackhawks had made it to town, which is usually enough for the NHL to decide to go on with a game. But a lake effect storm was projected to dump 2 feet of snow on the region.

The announcement comes as Blackhawks rookie Connor Bedard continues to recover from a fractured jaw injury. Bedard was back skating on the ice as he continued his recovery.

The rookie returned to the ice on Monday just 10 days after fracturing his jaw in a collision with New Jersey Devils defenseman Brendan Smith and seven days post-surgery.

Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson said Monday there is "no change" at the moment to Bedard's timeline for return but added that the rookie was "eager" to get out there anyway.

Winter weather and blizzard-like conditions in Buffalo recently led to the postponement of the Bills-Steelers NFL playoff game earlier this week.

ESPN contributed to this report.