Nate Thompson goes above and beyond for a pair of Philly firefighters.

If there was ever going to be a story that would make you think twice about the kind of messages you send your favorite National Hockey League players on social media, this story might be the one to do the trick.

Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Nate Thompson decided to do a good deed for some of his fans this week and the whole situation came about thanks to a post from one of those fans on his personal Instagram account. 

A fan by the name of Paul Parzanese responded to a post from Thompson on Instagram in spite of the fact that he never expected Thompson to see it or read it. Parzanese says he was just expressing how he felt when seeing the photo, but that was enough to catch the eye of the Flyers defenseman.

"I was on Instagram and just scrolling through." said Parzanese as per the NHLPA. "I was with my buddy and fellow firefighter Bill [Off] and I told him I was going to comment on one of Nate’s pictures. I was going to write, ‘How much fun would it be to hang out with these guys? It would be a blast.’ In the photo, Nate and a couple of the other guys were at a Philadelphia Eagles game. Well, Nate commented back and said, ‘Hey, how would you guys like to come to a game? DM me and we’ll make it happen."

Thompson was a man of his word and he did just that, inviting Parzanese and his friend to attend a Flyers game live and in person. Unfortunately for all of the parties involved they were unable to meet one another due to the current restrictions surrounding the NHL's covid protocol, but the two men were able to thank Thompson in their own way.

Both men are firefighters and as a result they were able to send Thompson some swag from their department. Unfortunately once again covid prevented them from doing so in person, but I'm sure Thompson appreciated the gifts nonetheless.

“We hooked him up with one of our department hoodies, a firefighter’s shield that we have on our helmets it has a 25 on it a challenge coin with our department name on it and the 25,” noted Parzanese. “We also gave him a couple of patches that we wear on our uniforms. We dropped it off at the Flyers’ practice facility in Voorhees (New Jersey). I wish we could have given that to him in person, but I hope he likes it.”

It was a classy gesture from the pair of firefighters, a great way to respond to what was a wonderful gesture on Thompson's part to begin with. For his part the Flyers defenseman said it just felt good to be able to give back to the fans that have given him so much throughout his career in the NHL.

“I don’t think fans realize that sometimes we do read the comments,” the 37-year-old Flyers forward admitted. “I just thought it would be a cool idea to offer them some tickets. Being able to do that for those guys is awesome. I’ve been around the game a long time now. It’s pretty cool what we get to do and to be able to give back to the people is what it’s all about.”