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Cassidy: Bruins Lindholm ‘Should Be Good To Go’ For Game 6

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Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy is confident that defenseman Hampus Lindholm will finally return to the lineup for Game 6 against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night at TD Garden.

“I anticipate he’ll play,” Cassidy told the media Wednesday. “I can probably give you a better, more definitive answer in the morning, but he should be good to go.”

Lindholm (upper-body), has been out of the lineup since being knocked out of Game 2 from a thunderous but clean hit from Hurricanes forward Andrei Svechnikov in the second period of an eventual 5-2 loss for the Boston Bruins.

There was some slight hope that Lindholm could make it back for what turned out to be a 5-1 dud by the Boston Bruins in Game 5 but the 28-year-old rearguard did not make the trip south to Raleigh with his teammates. Fellow defenseman and first pairing partner Charlie McAvoy didn’t fly down with his teammates either but he did end up clearing COVID protocol Tuesday morning with two consecutive negative tests over a 24-hour span, flew down on a private jet and ended up playing in Game 5.

Hampus Lindholm was acquired by the Bruins from the Anaheim Ducks just prior to the March 21 NHL Trade Deadline and then signed to an eight-year, $52 million extension by Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney. Lindholm finished the regular season with six assists in 10 games and has no points in two playoff games thus far.

If Lindholm does indeed play, Cassidy hinted that Boston Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk, and not Mike Reilly, could be the odd-man out. Grzelcyk finished with a team-low 16:29 of ice time among defensemen for Boston while taking two penalties and finishing a minus-1 for the game. He is a minus 6 in the series and has really struggled.

“So that’s something we’ll talk about with Lindholm going in because Lindholm adds some elements that [Matt Grzelcyk] and [Mike] Reilly bring where Forbort brings something unique,” Cassidy said.  “We want to make sure we have that in our lineup, so that will be a decision we’re going to have to make [Thursday].”

 

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