Lindholm emerges as Bruins’ early season MVP after stunning win originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
There was plenty of talk before the NHL trade deadline last season that Hampus Lindholm wasn’t the elite defenseman he used to be, and that giving up a bunch of quality assets for him would be a poor decision.
He’s no longer a No. 1 guy, skeptics said.
Luckily for the Boston Bruins, general manager Don Sweeney ignored that criticism and acquired the former Anaheim Ducks star.
In many ways, Lindholm has saved the Bruins’ blue line while franchise defenseman Charlie McAvoy has been sidelined to begin the season.
Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman leaves win vs. Penguins with injury
Lindholm’s value was on full display during the Bruins’ stunning 6-5 comeback win in overtime against the Penguins in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night. The Penguins had a 5-2 lead in the second period and the Bruins were down a defenseman as Derek Forbort exited with an upper body injury in the first period and didn’t return.
That’s when Lindholm stepped up and led the charge. He assisted on all of Boston’s next three goals to help force overtime and then scored the game-winner with a beautiful end-to-end rush that looked like a classic Bobby Orr highlight.
“He’s been phenomenal. I don’t know any other words except he’s pretty dominant out there.” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said of Lindholm after the game.
Lindholm’s performance was absolutely sensational. It started out a bit rough for him, as there were some defensive breakdowns on a few of Pittsburgh’s early goals. But the Swedish defenseman quickly turned it around and contributed in every phase of the game.
Lindholm’s final stat line read four points (one goal, three assists), three shots, three blocked shots and a whopping 29:47 of ice time over 37 shifts, including two minutes of power-play time and 2:57 on the penalty kill.
“We know we’ve got guys who can score on this team,” Lindholm told reporters after the game. “We just have to stick with it. It was one of those nights where pucks start going in. We can clean up some stuff. You don’t want to be down, 5-2, to a team like Pittsburgh but it shows a lot of character the way we came back.”
We’ve seen these kinds of efforts from Lindholm all season.
He ranks third among NHL defensemen with 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in 10 games entering Wednesday. That’s the most points by a Bruins d-man through the first 10 games of a season since Hall of Famer Ray Bourque in 1995-96.
Lindholm’s Scoring Surge
Points
11
NHL rank among D
3rd
Variation
Double
Lindholm is averaging 24:19 of ice time per game, which leads the Bruins by three full minutes and is about two minutes more than his average over the previous four seasons. With McAvoy out, Lindholm had to take on more responsibility and more ice time at 5-on-5 and special teams, and he has passed the test in impressive fashion.
The ice has been tilted in Boston’s favor with Lindholm on the ice this season. The B’s have a plus-18 edge in shot attempts, a plus-14 advantage in shots on net, a plus-19 lead in scoring chances and a 10-7 goal differential during Lindholm’s 173:31 of 5-on-5 ice time, per Natural Stat Trick. And that success is happening as Lindholm logs tough defensive minutes against the opposing team’s top-six forwards each game.
This is the kind of Lindholm the Bruins hoped to be getting from the Ducks when they made that blockbuster trade last March. The Bruins wouldn’t be having the best start in franchise history and wouldn’t have survived without McAvoy and Brad Marchand over the first couple weeks of the season if not for these brilliant performances from Lindholm.
The Bruins haven’t had another true top-pairing defenseman for much of McAvoy’s tenure in Boston. Now they do with Lindholm, and it makes the team’s blue line quite formidable once the unit is back to full strength. Not many teams have two No. 1 blueliners.
It would have been quite a feat for the Bruins to escape Pittsburgh with a point Tuesday after losing both a goalie and a defenseman to injury and trailing 5-2, but thanks to Lindholm, they travel to New York with two more points and a league-best 9-1-0 record.
