Pride nights, held annually for several years by National Hockey League teams to show support for the LGBTQ+ community, are in the spotlight following several high-profile incidents this season. A handful of players have objected to participating in pregame warmups that included Pride-themed jerseys, most recently Florida's Eric and Marc Staal on Thursday night. On Wednesday, the Chicago Blackhawks decided against having players wear Pride-themed warmup jerseys for their upcoming Pride night, citing an anti-gay law in Russia. The Staal brothers and San Jose's James Reimer — who are Canadian — and Philadelphia's Ivan Provorov, who is Russian, all pointed to their religious beliefs for refusing to take part in warmups.
The New York Rangers are still trying to sort out their offense after acquiring Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane before the trade deadline and will continue the process when they visit the Florida Panthers on Saturday in Sunrise, Fla. For now, the Rangers (42-20-10, 94 points) are playing Tarasenko with Artemi Panarin and center Mika Zibanejad for a dynamic top line.
The Florida Panthers got thumped 6-2 on home ice by the Toronto Maple Leafs in a second straight disappointing performance, following Tuesday's loss to lowly Philadelphia. Auston Matthews lit the lamp twice including the eventual game-winner when the contest was still close. Toronto pulled away by scoring the game's final three goals. After Matthews opened the scoring from long range at 5:05, from Mitch Marner and Mark Giordano, Matthew Tkachuk tied the game with a power-play goal at the 14:25 mark.
No | Player | Pos |
---|---|---|
16 | C | |
9 | C | |
72 | G | |
21 | C | |
10 | LW | |
5 | D | |
4 | D | |
42 | D | |
7 | D | |
70 | RW | |
27 | RW | |
94 | LW | |
15 | C | |
27 | C | |
34 | G | |
28 | D | |
62 | D | |
13 | C | |
54 | RW | |
12 | C | |
18 | D | |
19 | LW | |
23 | C | |
6 | C |