JAKE WALMAN

That would soon be followed by 11 in 11, supplemented by 32 shots and 30 hits, before a few inconsistent efforts. A prolonged decline over 12 games would ensue, during which he'd only register two assists, though he still fired 23 pucks on net over that stretch. The 30-year-old performed well enough in his first 13 games, with seven assists — including three PPAs — 19 shots, 11 hits and 16 blocks. Pesce has produced 10 points, 30 shots and 16 blocks in his last 12 while averaging just under 23 minutes. Fortunately, Girard has rediscovered his touch, registering seven points across 12 games along with 17 shots, 11 hits and 17 blocks.

Sam Reinhart and Anton Lundell scored in a shootout, and the Florida Panthers continued their string of comebacks by rallying from three one-goal deficits to beat the St. Louis Blues 4-3.

Players testing positive for the coronavirus late in the NHL's regular season and at the start of the playoffs affected multiple teams.

The NHL has cleared the St. Louis Blues and Vegas Golden Knights after virus testing errors.

Blues Avalanche Hockey St. Louis Blues center Brayden Schenn, right, jumps in the air to avoid a shot as Colorado Avalanche goaltender Philipp Grubauer covers the net in the third period of Game 1 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series Monday, May 17, 2021, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) (David Zalubowski)The Latest on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world:___The St. Louis Blues have reached out to the National Hockey League in regard to virus testing ahead of Game 2 of their best-of-seven series with the top-seeded Colorado Avalanche. The Blues have three players on the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol list, leading scorer David Perron, Nathan Walker and Jake Walman. St. Louis recently confirmed that Walman, who’s fully vaccinated, had tested positive for the virus after undergoing additional tests. In a statement issued Wednesday, Blues president of hockey operations & general manager Doug Armstrong said: “We have discovered discrepancies in COVID test results relating to multiple players.

Several St. Louis Blues players who returned positive COVID-19 tests have been cleared to play in Game 2 on Wednesday night against Colorado after the results from a lab were investigated with follow-up tests coming back negative.

(AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)The NHL is taking another step forward in data, analytics, and puck and player tracking. The league has reached an agreement with Amazon Web Services to put all its video and data on the cloud. AdNHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jassy unveiled the deal on NBC Sports Network late Wednesday. Later this season, fans looking up stats on the NHL's website will get corresponding video clips and vice versa. “It kind of melts your mind with the number of opportunities that are sitting in front of us.”___More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports