The National Hockey League reportedly decided to cancel Thursday night’s playoff games, following in the footsteps of other professional sports teams, according to ESPN.
The league’s decision postpones games between the New York Islanders and Philadelphia Flyers and between the Vegas Golden Knights and Vancouver Canucks.
The NHL and the players association were in communication after the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks announced that they would not play in their Wednesday afternoon playoff game following the shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old black man who was shot several times by a Kenosha, Wisconsin, police officer in front of his children.
Games in the men’s and women’s national basketball associations, Major League Baseball, and Major League Soccer were postponed on Wednesday, but the NHL played out its full slate of games. Some of those postponements extended to Thursday.
The NBA players left in the playoffs debated whether to continue playing the playoffs at all but ultimately decided that they should continue playing. It’s unclear when they or the NHL will resume their playoffs.
