Avalanche coach Jared Bednar could miss elimination game due to 'irregular' COVID-19 test?

The Colorado Avalanche have dropped three straight games to the Vegas Golden Knights in their second-round playoff series and received some surprising news ahead of Thursday's potential elimination matchup in Vegas. 

As Nicholas J. Cotsonika of the NHL's website noted, Colorado head coach Jared Bednar missed Thursday's morning skate due to what's being called an "irregularity" with his COVID-19 test result. As of early Thursday afternoon, Bednar's status for the must-win game was up in the air. 

"We're thinking that he'll be back tonight, but if not we know what to do," forward Joonas Donskoi told reporters. "We've been talking about things that we have to get better at for a long time, and I think last game was a pretty good game from us, so we're just looking to build and get a win from tonight's game."

According to Peter Baugh of The Athletic, no Colorado players missed the skate for coronavirus-related reasons. 

Mike Chambers of the Denver Post tweeted goaltending coach Jussi Parkkila handled whistle duties on Thursday morning.