Boston Bruins Lindholm ‘Not Doing Well’ After Punishing Hit

Things are going from bad to worse for the Boston Bruins as Hampus Lindholm appears to have been knocked out of Game 2 of their first-round playoff series after a devastating hit from Hurricanes forward Andrei Svechnikov.

It was midway through the second period in a game the Bruins eventually lost by a 5-2 score and Lindholm was wheeling the puck behind the Boston net with his head down when Svechnikov caught him with a clean, punishing hit shoulder to chest. The violence of the impact was so great that it actually snapped Lindholm’s stick, and he was left holding the broken handle as he attempted to shake out the cobwebs following the big impact.

The devastating collision sent Lindholm flying, and a trio of Boston Bruins players (Taylor Hall, Brandon Carlo and Erik Haula) immediately went after Svechnikov in the corner.

Hampus Lindholm needs help getting off the ice after this hit from Andrei Svechnikov. pic.twitter.com/kiHjVBTym6

— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) May 5, 2022

But the damage was down at that point as Lindholm looked completely dazed and wobbly-legged as he needed to be helped off the ice and didn’t return for the rest of the second period. Early in the third period the Boston Bruins confirmed that Lindholm would not return to the game with an upper body injury stemming from the violent body check.

UPDATE: Hampus Lindholm (upper-body) will not return to tonight’s game.

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) May 5, 2022

Svechnikov was called for roughing in the aftermath of the hit as was Carlo, but there were no penalties that arose from the actual hit that knocked Lindholm out of the game. After the game, Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy gave an update essentially saying that the defenseman “was not doing well” with an upper body injury.

“He’s not doing well. It looked high to me and that’s why he left the game,” said Cassidy, clearly alluding to a suspected concussion from a hit he saw as “high”. “He has an upper body injury. It was on time certainly. But it looked high. They didn’t see it that way. Sometimes those get reviewed and sometimes they don’t, but we’ll see I guess.”

Hampus Lindholm had a couple of shots on net and a couple of hits in 13:58 of ice time playing in a new ‘D’ pairing with Brandon Carlo during Wednesday night’s Game 2, but it wouldn’t be surprising if he’s done for the series after that kind of hit and subsequent injury.

It’s part of an overall nasty game on both sides as Brad Marchand and Carolina goalie Pyotr Kochetkov traded slashes during one period following the Lindholm hit, and a teamwide brouhaha closed out the first period that left three Boston Bruins players in the penalty box to start the second period.

Brad Marchand doing things pic.twitter.com/c1RombD4Ol

— The Hockey News (@TheHockeyNews) May 5, 2022

It looked like the Boston Bruins were finally getting some traction when Patrice Bergeron scored a power play goal to make it a 3-1 game, but Svechnikov lowered the boom on Lindholm just a couple of minutes later to once again seize the momentum for the Hurricanes.