Stars HC Rick Bowness Leaves Game vs. Hurricanes Due to COVID-19 Protocols

The Dallas Stars announced head coach Rick Bowness was pulled from the bench for the third period of Sunday's 1-0 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday because of COVID-19 protocols.

Assistant coach John Stevens took over for the rest of the contest.

"Whoever is in our traveling party has been vaccinated," general manager Jim Nill said, per Saad Yousuf of The Athletic. "We're very comfortable" this is a false positive, he added.

Yousuf also reported goaltender Anton Khudobin was cleared to return to the team once it was determined his positive COVID-19 test was actually a false positive. He was cleared after testing negative multiple times.

Emily Kaplan of ESPN reported Bowness has been fully vaccinated and Khudobin contracted COVID-19 during the offseason prior to this false positive. Khudobin was the only Dallas player on the NHL's COVID protocol list, although 17 members of the team tested positive during training camp.

Elsewhere in the NHL, Kaplan noted more than half of the Vancouver Canucks roster recently tested positive.

The Stars fell to 13-13-10 with Sunday's loss. They are in sixth place in the Central Division.