The vibes of an opening night victory for the Bruins took a nearly disastrous turn less than 24 hours later Thursday night at TD Garden.

Hampus Lindholm, projected to be the left side backbone of the Bruins, left the game around the midway mark of the first period due to an unknown injury. It was unclear what exactly happened, as nothing appeared noticeably off on what turned out to be Lindholm’s final shift of the night.

And it didn’t take long for the Bruins to reveal that Lindholm, who missed 65 games last year due to a knee injury, was ruled out with a lower-body injury.

That was the last thing the Bruins, who are without a doubt going to lean on their defensive-zone play as their identity this season, needed to hear.

But following Thursday’s 4-3 overtime win over the Blackhawks, it was Marco Sturm who provided the news Bruins fans needed to exhale.

“Just a minor injury, not related to his old injury,” Sturm said when asked for a Lindholm update following the win. “We just want to make sure he’ll be OK. He’s going to get tested [Friday] and then we’ll see.” 

With Lindholm down for the night, the Bruins leaned heavily on remaining left shots Nikita Zadorov (25:11 of time on ice on 31 total shifts) and Mason Lohrei (18:42 over 27 shifts), while Charlie McAvoy led the way for the Black and Gold’s blue line with 27:26 of time on ice by the night’s end.

The Bruins will be completely off on Friday, meaning that Lindholm’s status will linger and prognosis will linger on into Saturday morning. From there, it’s entirely possible that the Bruins will play it safe with Lindholm and keep him out for at least a game. In fact, it may be the most likely case for the club, as Saturday night against Buffalo will be the third game in four nights for the B’s.

And, ultimately, it’s just the third game of what will be an 82-game grind for the club, and with Lindholm being one of the five most important players for this team to hit its desired ceiling in 2025-26.

“Yeah, for sure,” Sturm admitted when asked about being extra cautious with Lindholm given his importance to the team. “I think [with] any of our big guys, we just have to make sure we’re going to be smart. We need him for the long run. But it sounds like it’s not too bad, but we’ll see [Friday].” 

If Lindholm is unable to go, Haverhill, Mass. native Jordan Harris will get the call and jump into the Boston lineup.

Harris, who beat out Jonathan Aspirot for the seventh defenseman gig,
put up one goal and five points, along with 23 hits and 35 blocks, in 33 games for the Blue Jackets a season ago.