Flyers, fans show support for Oskar Lindblom

The Philadelphia Flyers announced on Friday that forward Oskar Lindblom has been diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, and will miss the remainder of the 2019-20 season as he begins treatment.

On Tuesday, the Flyers played their first home game since the announcement and along with their fans offered support for their teammate.

All 20,000 seats in the arena had “I fight for Oskar” signs placed on them for fans when they entered the building, while the Flyers wore purple “Hockey fights cancer” shirts during warmups. The jerseys will be auctioned off with all proceeds going to Ewing’s sarcoma research.

The team is also selling #OskarStrong shirts.

Lindblom also visited the team earlier on Tuesday before their game against the Anaheim Ducks.

Coach Alain Vigneault said Lindblom was even tempted to try and skate.

Via Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

“I felt it was important for him, and especially important for his teammates, to see him,” coach Alain Vigneault said. “He’s got a tremendous amount of support obviously from his family and from his extended family, the Flyers, their wives and the coaches and their wives and the great fans we have here in Philly and across the states that will support him. Hockey is a real strong and good community, and Oskar is a real good person. He’s going to be around and he’'s going to be back as soon as he possibly can.”

The 23-year-old Lindblom was a 2014 fifth-round draft pick by the team and has spent parts of the past three seasons playing for the team.

More: Flyers’ Lindblom diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma

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Adam Gretz is a writer forPro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line [e-mail] or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.