One NHL player had knelt during the anthem before Monday. Now it’s five.

Through the first two days of the NHL’s pandemic-altered postseason, one player had knelt during a national anthem. Make that five now, as two players each from the Dallas Stars and Vegas Golden Knights demonstrated Monday to protest racial injustice.

Whereas the Minnesota Wild’s Matt Dumba took a knee Saturday during the U.S. anthem, he stood up for the Canadian anthem, then raised a fist during both songs before a game on Sunday. On Monday, the four Stars and Knights players — Jason Dickinson and Tyler Seguin for Dallas, Robin Lehner and Ryan Reaves for Las Vegas — stayed kneeling through both anthems.

After the 5-3 Knights win, played at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Reaves asserted that “in no way” was he “trying to disrespect the flag or our people that have fought for this country.” That accusation has been frequently made by critics of the protests, including President Donald Trump, since former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick began staging the demonstrations at NFL games in 2016.

“I have the utmost respect for everyone that has fought and died for the freedom of this country,” said Reaves, 33, a Canadian-American native of Winnipeg. “But at the same time, those people go across seas, go to war and families are torn apart in these wars for the freedom of this country, only to come back and find out that this country isn’t free for everybody.”

“At the end of the day, this is not about politics, it’s about human rights,” Lehner, a 29-year-old Swede, told reporters at a postgame news conference where he sat next to Reaves.

Lehner added that he “made a mistake” in 2016 when the goaltender’s mask he wore featured the name “Trump” with an image of the then-president-elect. “That is something I regret now,” Lehner said.

Kaepernick initially inspired a number of fellow NFL players and athletes in other sports to stage protests during the anthem, but those demonstrations waned over the years. However, issues of racial injustice and police brutality have burst to the forefront of the national conversation, alongside the novel coronavirus, since the killing in May of George Floyd.

Protests have been taking place nationwide since then, and numerous players in the NBA and in MLB have knelt during renditions of the anthem as those leagues have returned from months-long hiatuses. When the NHL got back on the ice Saturday with a 24-team playoff tournament, held in “bubbles” in Edmonton and Toronto, Dumba made sure his league had at least one participant in the demonstrations.

Dumba was not actually competing in the Edmonton Oilers-Chicago Blackhawks game at which he appeared Saturday in Edmonton, but as a member of the player-led Hockey Diversity Alliance, he was invited to give an address during pregame ceremonies.

“Racism is everywhere, and we need to fight against it,” the Filipino-Canadian defenseman said. “We will fight against injustice and fight for what is right. I hope this inspires a new generation of hockey players and hockey fans, because Black lives matter, Breonna Taylor’s life matters. Hockey is a great game, but it could be a whole lot greater, and it starts with all of us.”

Dumba subsequently said that he regretted not taking a knee Saturday during the Canadian anthem, as well.

“There needs to be a lot of light that has to be shed on what is happening in Canada and the oppression First Nations people have felt here for hundreds of years,” the 26-year-old Saskatchewan native said Sunday (via Canadian Broadcasting Corp.). “I have First Nations and Aboriginal families that have lived it and I was disappointed looking back on it.”

Seguin, a 28-year-old native of Ontario who attended a Black Lives Matter protest in June, said last month it “bothered” him that he had not previously “thought to find out about a journey that was much harder than mine.”

“In sports, you’re taught to be accountable,” he said then. “I looked in the mirror and realized I haven’t done anything to make a difference, to ask those awkward questions, to take action.”

On Monday, Seguin said that inequality is “a big issue that needs to be addressed.” He added that he wasn’t certain if he and Dickinson would continue to protest “every night,” but said if there were “other guys on teams or other Black players that are doing something, we’ll always give our support.”

“I’ve got some people of color in my family, my dad comes from the islands, and one of my uncles is black, so it was easy for me – easy decision,” said Dickinson, 25, also a native of Ontario. “I’ve been thinking about it since everything started, if I would do that. And I was probably nervous to think about doing it on my own, and when ‘Seggy’ said [he would kneel], it was a no-brainer for me that I wouldn’t be alone doing it – and to support the cause and support my teammates.”

“I think it’s great,” said the Stars’ interim head coach, Rick Bowness. “I support them 100 percent.

“They’re men and they’re professionals, and they take a stand for what they believe.”