Lindholm Reflects on Return to Bruins Lineup

“It feels really good to be out there skating around and wear the B’s jersey,” said Lindholm. “It’s a special feeling every time and obviously little extra jitters and butterflies coming out there tonight again. But no, it felt like it shoudl. I was excited to be out there. It was a good frist game.”

Lindholm was his steady self against the Flyers, playing 21-plus minutes in all situations. He squashes plays and net-front kerfuffles with a remarkable coolness. The man known as “Hammer” rarely – if ever – loses his temper but will use his size and strength to deescalate situations.

“Yeah,he just has a super confidence all the time,especially defensively,just so calm and poised with the stick and knows when to strike and when not to,” said Mason Lohrei,his defensive partner in Philadelphia.”And a lot of times he baits the other teams’ forwards and into making a play that he just takes away. So, fun to watch, fun to work with, and learn from.I’m just so happy for him.I know it was a long road,so glad to see him back out there.”

Marco Sturm couldn’t hide his smile when asked about Lindholm’s debut.

“He was great. He was so excited,” said Sturm. “He is just a solid defenseman. Yeah, once I think one or two shifts he got caught a little bit, but other than that I thought he was excellent.”

Lindholm spent the summer in Sweden doing more rehab and strength training with trainer Igor vladimir to prepare for his return.

“I think I’ve been around long enough to kind of know the way around an NHL game, but it’s been fun to go out there and feel this good knowing all the work that’s been done on the backside of it,” Lindholm said.”And obviously there’s been a lot of peopel helping me to be able to come back and so it feels great.”