Flyers, Bruins battle for East ‘supremacy’ in round-robin
Hurricanes aim to end struggles vs Rangers
PHILADELPHIA, July 28, (AP): The sweetest sound of the NHL break for the Flyers didn’t come from the first bite of the skate blade into the ice or a horn that ended a long-overdue scrimmage. It was the ringing of a bell inside a Philadelphia hospital that signified Oskar Lindblom had completed radiation treatments for a rare form of bone cancer.
Just 23, Lindblom’s season was essentially over in December, his fight with cancer the priority over playing for the Flyers.
The Flyers promised they’d be there every step of the way in Lindblom’s recovery and have dedicated the season him. They made their playoff push with him in mind, surging under firstyear coach Alain Vigneault toward one of their best records in years.
There was a nine-game winning streak that ended in the final game before the hiatus. There was newcomer Kevin Hayes becoming an instant fan favorite and the Flyers going 19-01 when he scored. And Carter Hart, just 21, played every bit like the franchise goalie the Flyers expected.
Had the Flyers made a run in May and June at their first Stanley Cup championship since 1975, Lindblom would have watched it from a seat. While the pandemic break derailed the momentum of the hottest team in the Eastern Conference, it gave Lindblom time to beat cancer and make the playoff roster.
Lindblom not only was rewarded with a three-year contract extension, he was among the 31 Flyers cleared to enter the NHL bubble in Toronto. From cancer to contract to Cup? Maybe. Lindblom was cleared to practice but has yet to leave his native Sweden and join the Flyers.
Meanwhile, the Carolina Hurricanes are determined to make a second straight deep run in the Stanley Cup playoffs. That can only happen if they do something they have rarely done over the past decade: beat the New York Rangers.
The teams meet Saturday in Toronto to open a best-of-5 series in the Eastern Conference’s expanded qualifying round, marking the first game of the NHL’s return to play after shutting down in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The sixth-seeded Hurricanes – who ended a nine-year playoff drought by reaching last year’s Eastern Conference finals – lost all four regular-season meetings to New York. The Hurricanes led for 11:16 in 240 combined minutes in those games, all coming in the Dec 27 matchup, according to SportRadar.
Not only that, the Rangers have won 31 of 37 meetings dating to February 2011.
The 11th-seeded Rangers built momentum through February to secure one of the last spots, including a run of nine straight road wins.