The grueling month of October, where they play a total of 13 games in 22 days and have played the most games of any team in the NHL at this point, is almost over for the Boston Bruins.
The Bruins weren’t using that to prop up as an excuse for Monday night’s abysmal effort in Ottawa, and they certainly didn’t allow it to stop them from overcoming a disastrous first period on the way to a 5-2 victory over the New York Islanders at TD Garden on Tuesday night. It looked bleak when mistakes put them down in a 2-0 hole in the opening 20 minutes coming off the embarrassing loss against the Senators, but they also received a shot in the arm with Hampus Lindholm’s return to the B’s lineup from a lower-body injury.
Lindholm played 19:03 of ice time, set up the game-tying score on a slick cross-ice slap pass to David Pastrnak that fooled everybody in an Islanders uniform who thought he was going to shoot, and really stabilized the back end at both ends of the ice when defensive breakdowns had been killing this group.
Some great passing here from Hampus Lindholm to set up the Pastrnak goal.
— Jamie Gatlin (@JamieGatlin17) October 29, 2025
pic.twitter.com/TctMTf7hWj
The good news for the B’s was that on this night, Lindholm was feeling healthy enough to play and be his effective workhorse defenseman self.
“I wanted to hug him after the game, I can tell you that,” said a smiling Marco Sturm. “He was outstanding. He gave us exactly [what we needed]. He calmed everything down, he made some good plays…good reads. He helped his partner out a lot. [Andrew] Peeke feels really comfortable, I think, playing with [Hampus Lindholm].
“He’s just a presence out there that we missed, we really missed. It’s nice to see him back. Hopefully he will be fine, but he’s definitely a guy that we need in our lineup.”
It is sometimes easy to forget the kind of impact Lindholm’s absence can have on a group where everybody else is pushed into bigger, meatier roles when he is not playing, but last season and this season paint a pretty bleak picture of how things can break down when he is not able to suit up.
There’s also a significant leadership component as well, as Lindholm is the third Bruins skater wearing a letter behind longtime alternate captains Charlie McAvoy and Pastrnak. When the 31-year-old steps back onto the ice for the Black and Gold, it reminds everybody what they’ve been missing and trying to play without, and it slots all the other defensemen into more comfortable roles.
All of it also stands as a constant reminder that there are still some questions about his kneecap, this lower-body issue that’s been hampering him at the beginning of this season and whether this swirling health uncertainty is going to be a recurring issue for him moving forward this season. Clearly, Lindholm was excited to be in the lineup, but it also felt a little like everybody involved with the Bruins was kind of holding their breath last night that he’s going to wake up this morning and still feel okay.
“When I’m out there, I don’t really have a second gear. I go full out,” said Lindholm, who has averaged 16:03 of ice time while playing in four of Boston’s 12 games to start this season. “That’s the way I’ve always played the game and I don’t go into the lineup if I don’t think I can bring something to the team. I was joking with [Bruins assistant coach Jay Leach] that I needed a little rest there in the penalty box.
“I’m just looking ahead. My body feels good and this was a big win for the boys tonight.”
Lindholm said it was agonizing watching the team go through a six-game losing streak, and losing very tight one-goal games, where if he were healthy, he pretty clearly knows that he could have been a difference-maker.
“We’re scoring goals, but we just to have to keep it to making other teams work really hard to score their goals against us,” said Lindholm. “It was really frustrating, but I’ve been in this league long enough to know that you if you go in the lineup you want to help the team win games. You can’t come in and out [of the lineup] like the Colorado game [when he returned on the road], I obviously didn’t feel great. You just reset, and tonight it felt really good.
“Being out there in front of all the Bruins fans is an amazing feeling and I just can’t explain it. I hope to play a lot more games and stay out there for the rest of the year.
As Lindholm jokingly referenced, it obviously wasn’t all him, as one of the pivotal moments in the game was the Bruins killing off a high-sticking double minor that the Swedish defenseman took at the end of the second period with the B’s protecting a one-goal lead. Morgan Geekie fired home a one-timer power play goal in the opening minutes of the third period to ice the game for the Black and Gold, and now has goals in five straight games for a Bruins offense that looks like it’s going to be better than people assumed it was going to be this season.
Two power play goals, a Pastrnak strike, and a big game from Mikey Eyssimont (one goal, two points) helped pave the way for Fraser Minten to put the finishing touches on the game with an empty net score, but the importance of Hampus was the theme of the night after Boston once again showed their ability to dust itself off from disappointment.
“It was great aside from that first shift where I had to defend and skate backwards,” said Pastrnak of Lindholm’s return with a smile. “It’s good to have him back. It’s easy to see the difference he makes on both sides of the ice.
“Defensively and then my goal was the perfect example of the things that he sees in the offensive zone. It’s huge to have him back being healthy and playing the way that he did, so hopefully he’s going to feel more comfortable and stay healthy.”
That’s really the only question looming over Lindholm and the Bruins at this point. They know they flat-out need him to win hockey games and his overall lower body health is going to play a major role in this team’s fate, and they just have to hope that he can find a way to stay in the lineup and maintain effectiveness in a condensed NHL schedule that isn’t going to be friendly to players with nagging injuries this season.