Golden Knights’ Oscar Lindberg excels with extended ice time

Forward Oscar Lindberg was active for the ninth straight game Thursday when the Golden Knights hosted the New York Islanders at T-Mobile Arena.

Lindberg has taken advantage of the extended playing time with a goal and five assists in that span. He did not register a point against the Isles, but his success has forced coach Gerard Gallant into a difficult decision of which forward to scratch after a long stretch in which Lindberg was not in the lineup.

“I’m just trying to play the best hockey I can every night to help the team, and it’s up to them to do whatever they do with the lineup,” Lindberg said before Thursday’s game. “It’s a competition for those spots, so you have to make sure you’re playing well every night to stay in there.”

After playing the first four games, Lindberg was scratched in 20 of the next 24.

Gallant acknowledged Wednesday that it might not have been fair to scratch Lindberg as often as he did in the first two months, and he said he spoke to the 27-year-old about it this week.

“I don’t like doing it that way when you sit a player for so long, but that’s the way it happened, and moving forward, I probably wouldn’t do it that way again,” Gallant said. “You look at those situations, and you learn something new every day. He came back into the lineup and played well.

“Somebody has to come out, and the good thing is I’m not sitting guys out because they’re not playing well. I’m sitting guys out because everyone is playing well and making it a tough decision.”

Tomas Nosek was scratched Thursday, as Lindberg played on the third line with Cody Eakin and Ryan Carpenter.

Crossing off opponents

The Knights hosted the Islanders eight days after defeating them 3-2 in New York. It’s the fourth time Vegas has knocked out its season series with an Eastern Conference team within 10 days.

“You’ve just seen them, and the players are familiar with each other, so I think it’s good,” Gallant said. “Especially when you only play them twice a year. It’s nice to not play them in September, October and March.”

Hunt returns to lineup

Defenseman Brad Hunt played Thursday in place of injured Colin Miller. It was Hunt’s first appearance since Nov. 11 after being scratched for 18 consecutive games.

Free clinic

The Knights will host a free skills clinic from 6:15 to 7:15 p.m. Friday at City National Arena. The clinic is for 8- to 10-year-olds who have completed one of the team’s Learn to Play classes or programs.

Knights director of hockey operations Misha Donskov and senior manager of youth hockey Matt Flynn will lead the session.

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Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com or Adam Hill ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz or @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.