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Blues, Golden Knights Players Cleared After COVID-19 Testing Discrepancies
May 19, 2021
The St. Louis Blues were among the playoff teams retested for COVID-19 on Wednesday after the league received potential false positive tests on Tuesday, per ESPN's Greg Wyshynski.
Blues president of hockey operations and general manager Doug Armstrong released the following statement on the situation:
"We have discovered discrepancies in Covid test results relating to multiple players. We have been in touch with and are working with the league to address these discrepancies with additional testing and expect to have further information later this afternoon. The league will provide a further update when we have more information."
The Blues were one of two playoff teams impacted by the potential false positives, alongside the Vegas Golden Knights. The NHL released a statement of its own later on Wednesday:
Per the ESPN report, the Blues had three players on the COVID-related absences list Tuesday: Forwards David Perron and Nathan Walker and defenseman Jake Walman.
As Wyshynski noted, "Walman was a notable absence because the Blues said he was the rare 'breakthrough case' of COVID after vaccination. He was placed on the list May 12 after the team asked for additional testing."
The team did not make head coach Craig Berube or any players available for Zoom interviews after the team's morning skate on Wednesday, per Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
And goalie Jordan Binnington, defenseman Marco Scandella and forwards Vladimir Tarasenko and Jaden Schwartz did not participate in Tuesday's practice or Wednesday's morning skate.
The Blues trail the Colorado Avalanche 1-0 in their first-round playoff matchup after losing 4-1 on Monday. That series will resume Wednesday night at 10:30 p.m. ET on CNBC.
