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Blues, Golden Knights players cleared after COVID-19 testing error

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Liam McHugh, Keith Jones and Anson Carter praise Gabriel Landeskog's performance in Colorado's win over the Blues in Game 1, particularly his physical play early that allowed Nathan MacKinnon to shine.

Game 2 of Avalanche and Blues will not be affected by Wednesday’s news that discrepancies were discovered in test results involving a number of players from St. Louis and Vegas.

The NHL was informed that COVID-19 test results involving players from the Blues and Golden Knights came back positive. According to the league, there were “other peculiarities and similarities as among the test results themselves” that came from the same California laboratory. That prompted an investigation that an error might have occurred when testing the samples.

Players who had tested positive were isolated and were given new tests, which came back negative making them eligible to play Game 2. Blues players David Perron, Jake Walman, and Nathan Walker, however, remain on the NHL’s COVID-19 protocols list. Walman, who was vaccinated, tested positive last week in a “breakthrough case.”

[NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs 2021 First Round schedule, TV info]

Here’s the statement from the NHL:

“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. 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.”

Vladimir Tarasenko, Jaden Schwartz, and Jordan Binnington were the Blues players who did not take part in the team’s pregame skate on Wednesday.

Game 2 of Avalanche-Blues from Ball Arena is Wednesday at 10:30 p.m. ET on CNBC. The Golden Knights head to Minnesota for Game 3 Thursday night (9:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN).

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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.