What’s next after Swayman/Forbort injuries, Lauko’s tribute to a friend & more takeaways from Bruins’ wild OT win over Pens

Given all that transpired during Boston’s wild OT victory over the Penguins on Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena, let’s just say that there is … a lot to unpack from the Bruins’ sixth straight victory. Here are a few other takeaways and observations from Boston’s most impressive victory of the young season. 

What are Bruins’ options following latest wave of injuries?

If there was anything that was going to put a damper on Boston’s impressive victory down in Pittsburgh, it was the fact that an already shorthanded Bruins roster was dealt another brutal blow — as both Jeremy Swayman and Derek Forbort exited the contest due to injury.

Swayman, pressed into game action after Linus Ullmark was pulled in the second period, left the game in the opening minutes of the third — with Patrice Bergeron inadvertently colliding into the netminder. Swayman’s left leg appeared to bend back against the post, with the 23-year-old goalie not putting any weight on his leg as he was helped off the ice. 

It was a brutal break for Swayman, who, after a rough start to the 2022-23 season, put forth his best outing of the season on Thursday against Detroit (28 saves on 29 shots). Postgame, Jim Montgomery didn’t have an update on Swayman, although Matt Porter of the Boston Globe did report that Swayman was walking around with ice on his left knee.

"He's from Alaska," Ullmark said of Swayman. "I'm not too worried. The guy's tough as nails."

Meanwhile, Boston’s D corps took another hit when Forbort left late in the first period after blocking a shot and appearing to injure his hand/wrist. Even though he only finished with 5:03 of ice time, Forbort still managed to dole out five hits and block two shots in his limited ice time.

Even though Forbort entered the season as a projected third-pairing, PK specialist, he’s been arguably Boston’s steadiest and most consistent blueliner all year, averaging 3:36 of shorthanded TOI per game (the 12th-highest rate in the league) for the top-ranked penalty-kill unit. 

Like Swayman, Montgomery had no update on Forbort postgame. 

Of course, any long-term injury for either player would be a major setback for a B’s team that has benefited tremendously from Forbort’s strides this season and needs an effective Swayman to help lessen Ullmark’s workload.

But in the short term, the Bruins at least have some options available when it comes to replacing both players in the lineup.

With Swayman, the Bruins will likely call down to Providence for reinforcements, with Keith Kinkaid and Kyle Keyser standing as the most-likely candidates for a promotion. Even though Keyser (3-0-1, .941 save percentage) has been slightly better than Kinkaid (2-1-1, .922 save percentage) out of the gate against AHL competition, Kinkaid still seems like the logical option for a call-up.

After all, Kinkaid has plenty of NHL experience (167 appearances), while the 23-year-old Keyser has none. Of course, if Swayman is only out, say, a week or so — the Bruins may not even play Kinkaid/Keyser, opting to just ride the hot hand with Ullmark.

Even though the B’s face some stout competition in the coming weeks, their overall workload isn’t too strenuous, with Boston scheduled for four games over the next nine games. 

As for Forbort, the Bruins don’t have to search very far for available options, with both Jakub Zboril and Mike Reilly standing as viable replacements. But even if both left-shot skaters can slot into the lineup, both don’t offer the same skillset as Forbort, with Brandon Carlo and Anton Stralman likely tasked with heavier minutes on the PK for however long Forbort remains on the shelf.

The Bruins have enough depth to trudge ahead and continue to accrue points even if Forbort and Swayman miss some time, but eventually these injuries are going to pile up. 

Lindholm bounces back in a major way 

When Montgomery said last week that Hampus Lindholm had at least “another couple of levels” in him in terms of his offensive game, he likely didn’t expect the 28-year-old blueliner to reach this level.

Boston’s miraculous comeback against the Penguins was orchestrated in large part by Lindholm — who recorded a point in each of Boston’s four unanswered goals while also logging 29:38 of ice time. 

“He's been phenomenal,” Montgomery said of Lindholm, who beat Tristan Jarry clean for the game winner in OT at 3:37. “I don't know any other words except he's pretty dominant out there."

With Charlie McAvoy on the shelf, it was always expected that Lindholm was going to be a minutes-muncher out of the gate. But the B’s deadline pickup last March has done it all so far this season — recording 11 points through 10 games. 

Lindholm is now the eighth defensemen in B’s history to record 10+ points through the first 10 games of a season — the most since Ray Bourque posted 12 points in 10 games during the 1995-96 season.

In total, Lindholm is just the fourth Bruins defenseman in the last 30 years to post a four-point game — joining Bourque (who accomplished the feat seven times),  Torey Krug (twice) and Matt Grzelcyk (Jan. 10, 2022).

For Lindholm, it was quite the response given his substandard play for most of the first two periods of action — with Boston outscored, 3-0, during Lindholm’s 16+ minutes of 5v5 ice time through those two frames. 

Of course, Lindholm won’t be piling on four-plus points night in and night out. Nor will getting tagged for three goals against be a regular occurrence. 

But somewhere in between, the Bruins have a dominant top-pairing D-man in place in Lindholm — a luxury, considering McAvoy is set to join him in another week or so. 

"I felt decent. Few sloppy battles defensively,” Lindholm said. “It's a 60-minute hockey game. Fell behind a little bit there early. But it's 60 minutes of hockey so you try to stick with it and tonight was one of those nights it went our way.”

Lauko pays tribute to friend with first goal

While Jakub Lauko celebrated with his teammates on the ice Tuesday after burying his first career NHL goal, his linemate Nick Foligno was on the prowl — snagging the biscuit and handing it over to the B’s equipment staff for safekeeping. 

Oftentimes, young NHLers who finally manage to find twine for the first time oftentimes put that ceremonial puck on a mantle — or bestow it to their parents.

But for Lauko, Tuesday’s tally offered him the chance to paiy tribute to his friend and former teammate Ondrej Buchtela — who passed away two years ago due to cancer. 

"I made a promise to my dying friend two years ago that I'm gonna make it to the NHL for him. I think my dad and my mother - I'm not gonna say angry, maybe disappointed a little bit - but it's gonna go to his mother because I promised to him and his family as well. It's gonna go to him," Lauko said.

Pavel Zacha holding things down on second line 

The Bruins’ second line will not be at its full offensive capabilities until a playmaking maestro like David Krejci is back in the fold. But in the meantime, Pavel Zacha is doing a more than suitable job stepping in for his fellow countryman at the 2C spot.

Zacha helped jumpstart Boston’s third-period rally, making it a one-goal game after tipping a Lindholm shot past Jarry at 11:59 — with the young forward’s defensive details standing out to Montgomery after a rough few games in October. 

“He did a lot of good things,” Montgomery said. “I thought he transported the puck really well, I thought he drove play. I thought he did a good job of getting pucks out to Hallsy and Pasta. And his D zone. He was closing quicker than we expected, because it's not an easy D zone coverage for centers. And he grasped it and he's getting better and better.”

While any line anchored by wingers like Pastrnak and Hall offers some risk/reward in terms of defensive integrity (a Hall-Zacha-Pastrnak line has scored two goals and surrendered goals in their 21:42 of 5v5 ice time together), Zacha is continuing to look like a solid stopgap until Krejci gets the green light to return.