XML linearization in Scala

This is a follow-up to my previous question. I would like to linearize an XML tree eagerly (not lazy). I assume for simplicity that an XML tree is a tree of Elem nodes, so I am transforming an XML to a sequence of Elem.

def linearize(node: Node): List[Node] = {
  val children = node.child.filter(cond(_) {case _: Elem => true}).toList
  children match {
    case Nil => List(node)
    case list => node :: list.flatMap(linearize)
  }
}

It seems working but I don't like this val children = ... How would you suggest change/fix it ?