Game 3 of the Second Round series between the Flyers and New York Islanders will not take place on Thursday evening as originally scheduled. The NHL released the following statement at 6 p.m. ET.
Statement from the National Hockey League Players’ Association and National Hockey League. https://t.co/uV1F5iDeUS pic.twitter.com/JS2t0MvUij
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) August 27, 2020
Friday's scheduled Stanley Cup playoff games, featuring the Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Boston Bruins and Colorado Avalanche vs. Dallas Stars, will also be postponed and the Thursday games will be moved to Saturday. However, no revised schedule or start times have been confirmed yet by the NHL.
As part of the Flyers internal discussions among players, team NHLPA representative James van Riemsdyk reached out to Chris Stewart; a teammate earlier this season and a member of the Hockey Diversity Alliance. Scott Laughton was also on the call. According to van Riemsdyk, the Flyers players wanted to get Stewart's insight and advice as part of the process of coming to a final decision.
"For us, I think we're trying to do the right thing, and looking for things to do to show support and be a part of this," van Riemsdyk said at media Zoom availability from Toronto for the four NHLPA reps from the remaining teams in the Eastern Conference playoffs. A separate session was conducted from Edmonton for the Western Conference team reps.
The Flyers organization has also released a statement.
https://t.co/0hVQ5Vos7s pic.twitter.com/7hqRcjXES6
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) August 27, 2020