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Hampus Lindholmās return bodes well for Bruins beleaguered D corps
āHe calmed everything down. He made some good plays, good reads."
Hampus Lindholm could only watch as the Bruins’ defensive structure — tabbed as one of the pillars of strength on Marco Sturm’s roster this season — crumbled over the last few weeks.
A lingering lower-body injury, suffered during Boston’s home opener against the Chicago Blackhawks on Oct. 9, sidelined the 31-year-old blueliner for eight of Boston’s previous nine games entering Tuesday’s home matchup against the Islanders.
In those eight games, the Bruins went 2-6-0, relinquishing 4.25 goals per contest. But as Lindholm watched his team fumble pucks in the D zone, the desire to return to the ice was countered by the patience prescribed to ensure that his nagging injury was not going to be a season-long hurdle.
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“It’s really frustrating,” Lindholm acknowledged. “But I’ve played in the league long enough to know — like if you go in the lineup and you want to help the team win games, you can’t come in and out. Like I had to come out of a game and obviously didn’t feel great. So it’s good to reset.”
On Tuesday, Lindholm finally received the green light to rejoin Boston’s D corps. And after shaking off some early rust, the poised defenseman showcased a skillset that has been sorely missed on a struggling defense through the first few weeks of the 2025-26 campaign.
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“Obviously you can see the difference he makes on both sides of the ice … So [it’s] huge to have him back and be healthy and be able to play the game he did,” David Pastrnak said of Lindholm’s return.
Slotting back into Boston’s second defensive pairing with Andrew Peeke, Lindholm logged 19:03 of ice time in the Bruins’ 5-2 win over the Islanders — recording a primary assist on a Pastrnak 5-on-5 tally while adding two blocks.
Postgame, Lindholm felt as though his body responded well to its first taste of NHL action since Oct. 18, stressing that he didn’t want to rejoin Boston’s lineup until he felt like he had no restrictions in place.
“When I’m out, I don’t really have a second gear. If I’m out there, I go full,” Lindholm said. “So that’s the way I always play the game. And I don’t get in the lineup if I don’t feel like I can bring something to the team. I was joking with [assistant coach Jay Leach] there, I had to be in the penalty box to rest my legs a little bit there.”
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As Lindholm joked, it wasn’t a seamless return to the frozen sheet for the Swede.
Lindholm spent six minutes in the sin bin, including a four-minute stint at the end of the second period where a high stick drew blood against Isles forward Kyle Palmieri.
Despite those penalty woes, the Bruins’ penalty-kill unit stood tally after coughing up four power-play tallies against Ottawa on Monday — going a perfect 5-for-5 in shorthanded situations against New York.
Lindholm’s assertiveness in the offensive zone also proved costly on his first shift of the evening. Less than a minute into the game, the defenseman activated off the blue line and snapped a shot off against Isles goalie Ilya Sorokin.
The attempt sailed high and clanged off the glass, creating a counter-rush opportunity for the Islanders. While Lindholm tried to skate back into the play, a trailing Bo Horvat capped off the 3-on-2 sequenced with a sharp shot past Joonas Korpisalo just 1:08 into the game.
“I wanted to hug him after the game, I can tell you that,” Sturm said of Lindholm. “Maybe not his first shift, because he missed the net and then they went the other way. I’m like, ‘Oh God.’ But other than that, he was outstanding.”
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Lindholm atoned for his miscue in the second period. After Marat Khusnutdinov carried a puck over the offensive blue line, Lindholm’s playmaking poise was put on display — activating again and skating toward the left circle with the puck on his stick.
Rather than uncork another shot in against Sorokin, Lindholm opted for a slap-pass across the slot — hitting Pastrnak on the tape seconds before the uncovered winger beat Sorokin clean through the five-hole.
Lindholm’s offensive capabilities and transition game should alleviate some of the puck-management miscues that have stuck Sturm’s defensive systems in neutral so far this season.
But his presence alone will also create a positive domino effect for the rest of Boston’s D corps.
With Lindholm anchoring Boston’s second D pair, Sturm now has the luxury of keeping a duo of Charlie McAvoy and Nikita Zadorov together.
Through 40:49 of 5-on-5 ice time together, the Bruins have only given up one 5-on-5 goal when the Zadorov-McAvoy pairing has been out on the ice together — and that was a tally generated by arguably the top forward line in the NHL in Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon, Martin Necas, and Artturi Lehkonen on Saturday afternoon.
Slotting McAvoy next to stable D partner in Zadorov should bolster Boston’s overall defensive structure, given that the Bruins were outscored, 10-7, in the 120:21 of 5-on-5 reps previously logged by a top pairing of McAvoy and Mason Lohrei.
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The key now for the Bruins and Lindholm is to once again avoid any setbacks with that injury, with the defenseman stating that he’s “looking ahead” and not worried about his previous injury.
That’s welcome news for Sturm and a Bruins team that has missed the stability that he provides in just about every area of the ice.
“He calmed everything down. He made some good plays, good reads,” Sturm said. “He helped his partner a lot. [Andrew Peeke] feels really comfortable, I think, playing with Lindholm.
“Yeah, he’s just a presence out there we missed. We really missed. So it’s nice to see him back.”
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