Oskar Lindblom will not be in the lineup for the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday night for Game 4 of their Second Round series against the New York Islanders, but he was on the ice before the game taking part in warmups. That alone is a huge development as it is another step in his return to the team and game action.
He has been sidelined for the past eight months after being diagnosed with Ewings sarcoma, a form of bone cancer, back in December. It was just about two months ago that he rang the bell following his final round of chemotherapy. He rejoined the team at practice in the Toronto bubble two weeks ago, and now had a chance to skate before a playoff game.
It is still not clear when he will be able to actually play again, but the fact he is to a point where he can skate with the team and take part in warmups this quickly is remarkable.
[NBC 2020 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFF HUB]
The Flyers enter Sunday’s game trailing the series, 2-1, after losing to the Islanders on Saturday afternoon.
While Lindblom will not be playing each team is making a pretty significant lineup change as they will be going with their backup goalies in the second half of the back-to-back situation.
Brian Elliott will get the start for the Flyers while Thomas Greiss goes for the Islanders.
No. 1 Philadelphia Flyers vs. No. 6 New York Islanders (NYI lead 3-1)
Game 1: Islanders 4, Flyers 0 (recap)
Game 2: Flyers 4, Islanders 3 (OT) (recap)
Game 3: Islanders 3, Flyers 1 (recap)
Game 4: Islanders 3, Flyers 2 (recap)
Game 5: Tuesday, Sept. 1, 7 p.m. ET – NBCSN (livestream)
*Game 6: Thursday, Sept. 3 – TBD
*Game 7: Saturday, Sept. 5 – TBD
*if necessary
MORE STANLEY CUP COVERAGE:
• Stanley Cup Playoffs Second Round schedule
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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.