No NHL players kneel during anthems this week, show ‘unity supporting equality’ in their own way

The players stood during Tuesday’s game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Philadelphia Flyers.

"The Penguins and Flyers, two of the fiercest rivals in sports, united in solidarity this afternoon, to stand up against social injustice, racism, and hate," said the Penguins in a post. "The teams stood as one across each club’s respective blue lines prior to today’s game."

During a game between the Nashville Predators and the Dallas Stars, players—instead of kneeling—locked arms "as a show of unity supporting equality,"” reported Dallas News.

The Dallas Stars official Twitter account posted a photo of the players locking arms and captioned it: "Bigger than hockey. We stand together for equality."

"You’ve seen all the other teams do it," said Jamie Benn, captain of the Dallas Stars referring to linking arms. "We had some chats with Nashville and talked with [captain] Roman Josi. We thought it would be good to mix it up, link arms. We stand for equality and I think it’s important we keep talking about it and keep improving it."

Dallas News said, "Benn and Stars forward Ty Dellandrea also wore hoodies to their postgame interview that read ‘#WeSkateFor Equality,’ part of the league’s initiative that allows teams to choose a cause that they skate for. Players can individually choose a cause for the league’s #ISkateFor campaign."

Players also stood during the American and Canadian national anthem in Toronto where the New York Islanders faced the New York Rangers.

The act of kneeling through the national anthem started when NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick in 2016 took a knee in protest of what he called systemic police brutality aimed at black Americans.

Many professional sports leagues such as the NBA, MLB and WNBA have taken to kneeling during national anthems following the death of George Floyd who died at the hands of Minneapolis police on May 25.

At the NBA game between the New Orleans Pelicans and the Utah Jazz, the players, referees and coaches took a knee as the national anthem played. The court had large black letters on it saying: “Black Lives Matter” and wore warm up shirts with “Black Lives Matter” written on them as well.

The Black Lives Matter organization on its website’s “What We Believe” section, calls for the “national defunding of police” and to “dismantle cisgender privilege and uplift Black trans folk, especially Black trans women who continue to be disproportionately impacted by trans-antagonistic violence.”