A few days earlier, Schenn and Marchand had battled for the puck repeatedly during Tampa Bay’s 7-1 victory in Game 3 on Wednesday that gave them a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. But those battles seemed pointless, Schenn said, when the Lightning came off the ice to find that NBA players had boycotted their playoff games to protest the shooting of Jacob Blake, a black man, by a white police officer in Kenosha, Wis., on Sunday.
“In light of what happened, after a win, everybody congratulates each other and celebrates,” he said. “After the last game, it wasn’t like that at all. We went into the room and were briefed on what was going on, and the conversation quickly changed. I think, obviously, you’re in the middle of a playoff series, but there was a lot more going on outside of the game itself.”
On Thursday, enemies became friends for a united cause.
“Before we did anything, we would talk to four or five Bruins,” Schenn said. “So you literally play, what, 10 hours before, and the next day, it has nothing to do with hockey. It’s all based on what’s going on in the world right now and how it’s affecting all of us on different levels. You have these conversations and, well, personally, I almost forgot that we played the day before and we’re about to play them again. It’s strictly based on racial issues and how we can continue to grow and educate ourselves.”
“On top of that, we talked to four or five Bruins, and then another guy on our team said, ‘Let’s make sure the Flyers and Islanders know.’ And then all of a sudden, 30 or 40 of us had a meeting.”
For some players, the conversations of the last two days have already had a profound effect.
“For me, it’s about action,” the Islanders defenseman said. Scott Mayfield “I’ve already reached out to our community relations director, to organize things outside the rink, to see what we can do, to start brainstorming ideas, to go into minority communities, things like that.”
It’s all part of the players’ push to bring about much-needed change at all levels of the sport.
“Just hearing stories of young players not feeling safe, not feeling included, that’s something that needs to stop,” Mayfield said. “It makes me sick because hockey is a place for everyone.”
NHL.com reporters Amalie Benjamin and Brian Compton contributed to this report.
