Oskar Lindblom has 5 point night in 6-3 rookie game victory

The third annual Flyers v.s. Islanders rookie showdown took place in New York on Wednesday.

Lindblom came to the event as a starter, one of many NHL hopefuls this season. Others competing for an NHL job on the roster tonight were Morgan Frost, Misha Vorobyev, Philippe Myers, and Carter Hart.

All of them looked great, except maybe Hart. He allowed all 3 goals in the first period, then settled in and didn’t allow a goal before Hughes took over. Hey, he can’t stop everything. Who knew?

Lindblom opened scoring within minutes, and would score again and again. He finished with three goals and overall five points on the night. The Swedish winger looked like he didn’t belong, and in a good way. It was almost too easy for him.

It may have been, as he is coming off a season in which he played over 20 regular season games and created all kinds of havoc in front of opposing creases as an NHL forward. Lindblom seemed to have the puck find him. He was always right on top of a bad rebound, or right in a shooting lane for a deflection.

His third goal was a hustle play. He drove hard through the offensive zone on a straight line to the net, giving Carsen Twarynski (1G, 1A) someone to pass to after he made a good inside move on the rush. Lindblom beat his man to the spot and dunked home Twarynski’s centering pass, tumbling over the post and towards the wall.

He was undoubtedly the player of the game, and while it was against a bunch of prospects, he did what he was supposed to do and proved he was better than them.

Morgan Frost scored a goal on the powerplay and added two assists for a three point night.

Phil Myers played very well defensively and had a shot find the back of the net via Oskar Lindblom’s deflection. He has a very real chance to push into an NHL role with the MacDonald injury.

Vorobyev had a Lindblom-like night in that he was too good to be in this game. Lindblom forced a turnover behind the net and the puck slid directly to Vorobyev, who didn’t miss it. He ripped it home from the high slot, the sixth goal of the night for Philly prospects. An overall three point night for the 3C candidate.

Lindblom and Vorobyev terrorized the stat sheet and the goaltenders on a line together. Copy and paste that combo to the third line in Philadelphia, and add Wayne Simmonds to the other wing. Watch out, Metropolitan division.