Philadelphia had to win over the New York Islanders, otherwise the season would end.

Then coach Alain Vigneault put in Oskar Lindblom, who had been forced to cancel the season in December last year when he was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, a kind of skeletal cancer.

- I knew I would play again, but not when.

Today it was time and I am very happy that it was today, with these guys, Lindblom says at the press conference after the match.

- I have only tried to think positively throughout the treatment.

"Been an inspiration"

Now he was hailed by teammates as well as the referees and Islanders when he slipped on the ice.

The Swede was given careful playing time, but was able to celebrate the important victory from the ice, which means that the team gets at least another 60 minutes during the season.

And the tributes continued after the match.

- Throughout the season, he has been an inspiration.

It has given us a lot of energy.

It was cool to see him out there today, goalkeeper Carter Hart said at the press conference.

- It is absolutely fantastic to be with him again after everything he has been through.

The actual match in Toronto was as even as the last matches in the series.

Decisive match

Philadelphia went out the hardest and had a two-goal lead in the first period.

The Islanders were able to equalize and the New York team then went up twice in the lead, to 3-2 and 4-3, before Scott Laughton equalized to 4-4 and took the match to extra time - for the second match in a row.

It took a while before the decision came.

Only 15 minutes into the second overtime period, Ivan Proporov was able to put 5-4 behind Semjon Varlamov.

Thus, it will be a seventh and decisive match in the quarter-final series.

It is played the night before Sunday, Swedish time.

- For us, it does not matter that it is the seventh and decisive match, for us it has been decisive matches for a long time now, says Oskar Lindblom.

At the beginning of July, 24-year-old Lindblom was able to successfully complete his treatment for Ewing's sarcoma.

He was then at home in Gävle with the family before he went to the playoff bubble in Toronto.

After an eight-day quarantine, he was back in training in mid-August and earlier this week he was part of the team's warm-up on ice before the fourth quarter final.

Lindblom scored 11 goals and 7 assists in 30 games before the illness.