SEATTLE -- Football coaches at a Seattle high school joined their players in taking a knee during the national anthem, following the lead of NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick to protest social injustice.The entire Garfield High School football team and its coaching staff knelt during The Star-Spangled Banner before the Friday kickoff against West Seattle High School in Seattle. Several players from the other team also knelt.It was the first time Garfield football players participated in the increasingly popular demonstration. West Seattle athletes began kneeling a week prior after getting approval from administration staff.Joey Thomas, Garfield Highs head coach, told Seattle media outlets his players have encountered either police brutality or racial profiling while also dealing with a racially divided school. He said his team wont have to kneel once people start addressing racial injustice.Everybody wants to talk about how this is disrespectful to the American flag, Thomas said. Thats a smokescreen. How about we talk about the issues people are kneeling and fighting for?West Seattle coach Tom Burggraff didnt kneel with his players Friday, but said he supports his players freedom to protest.Kaepernick, the San Francisco 49ers backup quarterback, gained national attention when he refused to stand for the anthem before an NFL preseason game earlier this year.His protest has since sparked similar demonstrations among athletes. Ranging from fellow NFL players to high school students, some athletes have decided to take a knee or link arms during the national anthem before sporting events Marcedes Lewis Super Bowl Jersey Aaron Rodgers Super Bowl Jersey . Brad Jacobs and his Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., team took control of the game early. http://www.officialgreenbaypackerspro.com/ . -- Team after team passed on Andre Ellington in the draft. Darnell Savage Jr. Super Bowl Jersey . Anthony Calvillo, through 20 CFL seasons, was frequently invincible and largely stoic in the heat of competition. But underneath the professional exterior he was, and is, compellingly human. Marquez Valdes-Scantling Super Bowl Jersey . That gave fans outside Joe Louis Arena another chance to ask for autographs from the 19-year-old whose stardom in the NHL has arrived earlier than most expected. WASHINGTON -- A season that was going nowhere for the New York Islanders is suddenly looking less dire, thanks the teams first three-game winning streak.Shane Prince, Brock Nelson and Jason Chimera produced three goals in less than 4 1/2 minutes of the third period Thursday, and Jaroslav Halak made 38 saves, helping the Islanders beat Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals 3-0 one night after a victory over Sidney Crosby and the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins.If you look at all the bad bounces and late games that we kind of blew, we could have a great record right now. Its unfortunate. Its just how our seasons went, said Prince, who broke a scoreless tie at the 16:45 mark of the final period after Casey Cizikas stole the puck from Capitals defenseman Dmitry Orlov.To be able to string three in a row together, especially the back-to-back against two of the best teams in the league, Prince continued, its huge for us and weve got to build off it and keep it going.New York entered with the fewest points in the Eastern Conference, including just one victory in eight road games.Obviously, theres still things that need to be cleaned up, Halak said, but I think we are heading in the right direction right now.Not only did he not dress for the Islanders 5-3 home win against the Penguins on Wednesday, he didnt even watch the third period, during which New York went from 3-0 ahead to tied, before pulling it out.I was trying to get a good sleep, Halak said.Hey, whatever works.He also joked that his best save Thursday came when Ovechkin put a shot off the post during a third-period power play -- part of an 0-for-6 showing for Washington with an extra man. The Capitals once-vaunted power play is 0 for 10 over the teams past two games, both losses.Whether theyre getting blocked or going over the net or wide -- sometimes, I think, when you dont have the results youre looking for, and youre used to having good success, which this grooup is, maybe you start trying to pick the corner a little bit too much rather than shooting for the second opportunity, Washingtons Matt Niskanen said.ddddddddddddYouve got to shoot it better or youve got to be at the net better or something, he said, because right now, were not getting it done.Ovechkin entered the final period with twice as many penalties called against him (two) as shots on goal (one) for the evening, and remained stuck on 199 career power-play goals.At the other end, Orlov acknowledged, I did two bad mistakes and it cost (us) the game.After his blunder led to the games opening goal, Orlov lost the puck in his own end, leading to Nelsons goal off a rebound of John Tavares shot. Exactly a minute later, former Capitals winger Chimera finished the flurry with his second goal in two games after having only one in the seasons first 21 games.We werent getting results. ... We put ourselves behind an 8-ball, Chimera said. But we saw some positive things.Game notes An apparent power-play goal by Washingtons Justin Williams at the end of the first period was disallowed when a replay showed the puck was still crossing the goal line when the clock hit 0.0. ... Capitals 2014 first-round draft pick Jakub Vrana made his NHL debut, skating on the second line and nearly scoring on his very first shift. Everything happened so quick, he said. ... It was Halaks first shutout of the season and 40th in the NHL. He led eighth-seeded Montreal to an upset of Presidents Trophy-winning Washington in the 2010 playoffs, and briefly played for the Capitals in 2014. ... Capitals F T.J. Oshie missed his fifth consecutive game with an upper-body injury.UP NEXTIslanders: Host the Red Wings on Sunday.Capitals: Visit the Lightning on Saturday.---Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich ' ' '