Hockey Diversity Alliance asked NHL to suspend Thursday's playoff games

The Hockey Diversity Alliance made a formal request to the NHL to suspend all Thursday playoff games, San Jose Sharks forward and group co-head Evander Kane announced.

The NHL ultimately postponed its slate through Friday, at the request of the players.

There were two NHL playoff games scheduled for Thursday. The New York Islanders were originally set to face the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 3 of their second-round series at 7 p.m. ET, while the Vegas Golden Knights and Vancouver Canucks were going to play the third game of their series at 9:45 p.m. ET.

The NBA suspended all of Wednesday's scheduled postseason games and has reportedly postponed all tilts scheduled for Thursday. Players from several teams refused to play Wednesday's contests after Rusten Sheskey, a police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, shot Jacob Blake, an unarmed Black man, several times in the back during an arrest Sunday. The NBA playoffs will resume Friday.

A handful of MLB teams also chose not to play Wednesday, though all three NHL playoff games went ahead as scheduled.