Stars' Bowness exits game due to COVID-19 protocol

Dallas Stars head coach Rick Bowness was forced to leave the bench during Sunday's contest against the Carolina Hurricanes due to the league's COVID-19 protocol, the team announced.

He was on the bench for the first two periods but missed the third period. Assistant coach John Stevens assumed head coaching responsibilities in his absence.

Bowness' PCR test came back positive during the second intermission and the club believes it's a false positive, Stars general manager Jim Nill told reporters postgame, according to The Associated Press' Stephen Whyno. Nill added that Bowness has been fully vaccinated.

The Stars experienced a COVID-19 outbreak during training camp when a number of players tested positive. Goaltender Anton Khudobin was placed on the league's COVID-19 protocol list Saturday, but Nill said Sunday that Khudobin's retest result came back negative and he's been cleared to travel with Dallas, according to team reporter Mike Heika.

Bowness is the NHL's oldest active head coach at 66 years old.