Boston Bruins Lindholm (Lower Body) Not Ruled Out Vs. Tampa Bay

The good news is that Boston Bruins defenseman Hampus Lindholm hasn’t been ruled out of Friday night’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning with his lower body injury. The 28-year-old defenseman was injured in the second period of Tuesday night’s 5-3 loss to the Detroit Red Wings and wasn’t on the ice for Friday morning’s off-day practice in Tampa ahead of the Atlantic Division showdown with the Bolts.

But Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy hasn’t ruled out Lindholm from actually playing in a positive sign that the lower body injury isn’t all that serious. Lindholm was spotted walking out of Little Caesar’s Arena without a limp, boot, crutches or brace of any kind, so the expectation was that it wasn’t going to be a long-term injury.

Unfortunately, the news was not as positive for David Pastrnak, who will be out against Tampa Bay after injuring himself in Monday night’s win over the Columbus Blue Jackets after getting tangled up in a puck battle following a faceoff.

David Pastrnak was not feeling great after this play. pic.twitter.com/ubMgvAxvjG

— Jamie Gatlin (@JamieGatlin17) April 5, 2022

“Pasta will be out [on Friday],” said Cassidy, who said that rookie forward Marc McLaughlin might get a look in Pastrnak’s spot on the right wing with Erik Haula and Taylor Hall. “Lindholm, [the medical staff] is not sure. They were hoping to get him on the ice today and it didn’t work out. I know he worked off-ice today, so we won’t rule him out yet. But Pasta is definitely out. We’ve listed him as day-to-day and he’s still on the trip [with the team].”

The further good news is that Trent Frederic will return to the Boston Bruins lineup against the Lightning after missing Tuesday night’s loss to the Red Wings with an upper body injury that knocked him out of the Columbus game as well.

Interestingly enough Linus Ullmark will get the start in net against the Lightning in an important divisional game after upping his level of play lately as Jeremy Swayman has hit a bit of a rookie plateau between the pipes.