Ahead of their third game of the season, pie-in-the-sky hopes for a fully healthy Boston Bruins season were officially dashed on Saturday morning.
And the first injury of the season has come on the backend for Boston, with Hampus Lindholm, who suffered a lower-body injury in the first period of Thursday’s overtime win over the Blackhawks, officially ruled out of Saturday night’s showdown with the Sabres at TD Garden.
Word of Lindholm’s absence comes a day after he underwent some additional testing, and after he was not on the ice for the club’s morning skate.
“He’s still day-to-day, he didn’t practice today,” Bruins head coach Marco Sturm said following the morning skate at Warrior ice Arena. “He’s going to be back on the ice [Sunday], and then we’ll see.”
Speaking after Thursday’s contest, Sturm noted that Lindholm’s injury was a minor one, and was not related to the knee injury that caused him to miss the final 65 games of the 2024-25 season. It’s still unclear exactly how Lindholm got hurt — the closest thing to anything that looked like an injury-inducing play came on a wipeout at the Chicago blue line — and Sturm himself acknowledged that he didn’t see the play that caused the injury.
But it sounds like Sturm, who is going to lean on Lindholm all season long, still isn’t too worried about Lindholm’s status moving forward.
“As of right now, yes,” Sturm said when asked if Lindholm will travel on Boston’s upcoming road trip, which will kick off next Thursday in Vegas. “But we have to take it day by day and see how he is [Sunday].”
While everybody is going to hold their breath until Lindholm is back on the ice as Boston’s top left-side option, there could also be an element of the Bruins thinking big picture with the 6-foot-4 defender. Not only will Saturday be Boston’s third game in four nights, but the schedule also gets awfully challenging (especially for the defense) with next week featuring games against the Lightning, Golden Knights, and then the Avalanche. The Bruins also have another three-in-four on deck next week, including a weekend back-to-back in Colorado and Utah. In essence, it’s entirely possible that the B’s think rest or a potential slow build is better than a setback or tweak.
With Lindholm unavailable, the Bruins will turn to Jordan Harris as his replacement on the backend. Harris, a Haverhill, Mass. native, will slot into Lindholm’s spot as Andrew Peeke’s pairing partner and comes into this contest after putting up one goal and five points, along with 23 hits and 35 blocks, in 33 games for Columbus last season.