Leafs-Senators game up in air

— -- A terrifying situation unfolding in Canada's capital city of Ottawa has the Toronto Maple Leafs on lockdown and Wednesday night's game there against the Senators in limbo.

The Ottawa police, via its official Twitter account, announced Wednesday that it was investigating several downtown shooting incidents and warned the public to stay away from that area while it investigated them.

According to reports Wednesday morning, a soldier was shot at the War Memorial on Parliament Hill and there were two additional shooting sites in Ottawa.

Meanwhile, the Maple Leafs are on lockdown at the team's hotel in downtown Ottawa, a team representative confirmed to ESPN.com. The Leafs are scheduled to play the Senators at 7 p.m. ET.

"We are monitoring the situation in Ottawa and have been in touch with both clubs," the NHL said in a statement. "As in all cases regarding potential game postponements, we will follow the lead of the local authorities."

Maple Leafs forward Joffrey Lupul described the scene on Twitter.

One player, via text to ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun, said he and his teammates are following the situation and remain in disbelief: "Terrible day."

Whether a game will be played between the provincial rivals remains to be seen. Contacted late Wednesday morning, two league sources told ESPN.com that the presumption was that the game would be held.

With the situation fluid, however, that could change quickly.

"[We're] still in information-gathering and evaluation mode. No decision yet," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told ESPN.com via email Wednesday.

Pierre LeBrun of ESPN.com contributed to this report.