Multiple players on the St. Louis Blues and Vegas Golden Knights have been cleared to play in their teams’ next games after their latest COVID-19 tests returned negative results.
The Blues released a statement earlier on Wednesday that said they had discovered “discrepancies” in COVID-19 results and that more tests were needed to determine whether the players involved could play in Game 2 against the Colorado Avalanche.
“This morning, we became aware of certain test results involving multiple Players on two Clubs (the St. Louis Blues and the Vegas Golden Knights) that had indicated positive results for the COVID-19 virus,” the NHL said in a statement. “Because those reported results emanated from the same laboratory, and due to other peculiarities and similarities as among the test results themselves, an investigation was initiated into the possibility that the initial test results reported may have been in error. All affected Players were immediately isolated and further testing was done involving collected samples. Those tests have returned uniformly negative results, therefore confirming that the initial reported test results were in error. As a result, all affected Players will be eligible to play in their team’s next game.”
The Blues took the ice for their pregame skate in Denver, but cancelled media sessions scheduled for coach Craig Berube and players. Wingers Vladimir Tarasenko and Jaden Schwartz and goaltender Jordan Binnington were not on the ice with the rest of the team for the pregame skate.
David Perron, Jake Walman and Nathan Walker, all members of the Blues, were the lone players on the NHL’s COVID-19 Protocol list when it was updated Wednesday afternoon.
The Blues and Avalanche will drop the puck in Game 2 of their first-round series on Sportsnet 360 at 10:30 p.m. ET/ 7:30 p.m. PT. The Avalanche lead the series 1-0.
[relatedlinks]
