Dave Isaac | NHL Writer

PHILADELPHIA — A lot of last year felt good for Oskar Lindblom.

The only complaint was “there was that stretch where I didn’t play much.”

He was finally an NHL regular, five years after the Flyers drafted him out of his native Sweden. He worked on his skating deficiencies and knew he’d stick around if he could be responsible without the puck on his stick.

Toward the end of Dave Hakstol’s tenure behind the bench for the Flyers last season, Lindblom’s ice time shrunk. In Hakstol’s last game as coach of the Flyers he benched Lindblom and dressed Jori Lehterä, who is no longer in the league, instead. Lindblom got no feedback as to why.

“Not really, last year. He talked sometimes, but not a lot,” Lindblom said. “You’re trying to work hard in practice, show the coaches what you have so you can play. You don’t want to say it, but I think it was good for me, too. You enjoy it a little more when you play a lot and you look back and you have that feeling when you don’t play.

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“You start thinking. Way too much, probably. You want to play and sometimes you don’t really know what you’re doing wrong. It’s a lot of confidence. You’re trying to get back in the lineup and play as much as you can. You want it as quick as possible.”

These days he’s trying to bottle up how he feels and make it last as long as he can.

Leading into Saturday night’s game against Columbus, Lindblom's five goals in eight games were more than any other Flyer, one up on linemate Travis Konecny. Along with Sean Couturier, the three have become the Flyers’ best line and one that new coach Alain Vigneault has kept together recently as he tries to find the others that work.

“I love playing with him,” Couturier said. “I think we played last year, the second half of the year, me, him and Jake (Voracek). We had a lot of success together. He’s a really smart player, does all the little things right. Right now he’s producing offensively, but even if he’s not putting up points, he does the little things to help the team win and I think it makes it just that much easier playing with him.”

“I didn’t know much about Oskar before coming here but what I’ve found is a real smart, two-way player, hard-working young man who’s got a good hockey sense to play that 200-foot game and he’s got a real good skill level,” Vigneault added. “We’ve got him playing 5-on-5 on Coots’ line, which has been our most consistent. He’s playing penalty killing with Coots and he’s playing power play so he’s become a real important player to our team.”

Lindblom first broke into the NHL scene two years ago. He was recalled in February of 2018 when Wayne Simmonds missed seven games with a torn hand ligament and was playing too well for the Flyers to send him back when Simmonds returned.

Defense has been the key for Lindblom, which led to some occasional penalty killing time under Hakstol. Once Scott Gordon took over in mid-December, Lindblom was consistently in that role and has stayed there this season.

Knowing his skating was an area he wanted to improve, Lindblom lost six pounds of fat over the summer but added muscle to make him a more powerful skater. He says he feels better, faster and lighter this season.

Another big difference has been his power play production. Last season he was on the unproductive second unit. So far this season, nearly half of Lindblom’s production has come on the man advantage.

“It’s always fun to score. I don’t know what to say otherwise,” he laughed. “I was trying to get it going and stay the same way. I don’t want to have my confidence too high, you know? If I do the right things I’m going to hopefully play good this year.”

“I think ever since he’s been here he’s done all the little things right every game,” Couturier added. “He never cheats for offense. He just plays the game the right way. he’s smart. It comes back to doing the little things the right way but I think you get a lot of scoring chances that way. You don’t give up a whole lot and as he gains confidence by putting pucks in the net, it’s just going to elevate his game to another level. I think it’s just sticking to doing the little things, getting the chances. I think right now he’s feeling good about himself, gaining confidence and we’re seeing him making plays and capitalizing on his chances.”

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Dave Isaac joined the Courier-Post in April 2012 after covering the Flyers for three seasons elsewhere. Contact him on Twitter @davegisaac or by email at disaac@gannett.com.