Saturday night’s contest between the Minnesota Wild and Philadelphia Flyers wasn’t an ordinary hockey game.
About 27 hours before puck drop, the Flyers announced that forward Oskar Lindblom, who leads the team with 11 goals on the season, has been diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer. While the Wild were just hoping to earn a pair of points to remain in the playoff race, the Flyers were playing for much more.
And it showed early on.
Just 1:34 into the game, James van Riemsdyk beat Alex Stalock on a 2-on-1 rush to open the scoring.