On Day 1 of the hockey games at the 2026 Winter Olympics, there were scheduled to be a handful of Boston Bruins players slated to take the ice for their countries. In the first game, defenseman Henri Jokiharju played for Finland and made a major gaffe that led to the game's opening goal. Bruins goalie Joonas Korpisalo was a scratch for Finland in their 4-1 loss to Slovakia.
In the second game of the day, Italy played Sweden, and all eyes were going to be on Sweden and who was and wasn't going to be in the lineup. Boston defenseman Hampus Lindholm was a late injury addition to Sweden's roster a couple of weeks ago. He was joining center Elias Lindholm, playing for their country, but there were questions surrounding whether or not Elias Lindholm was going to play.
He was injured in a game last month against the Nashville Predators in a 3-2 Black and Gold overtime win. He left late in the second period and didn't return with what the team called an upper-body injury. He missed the rest of the Bruins' games before the break, including the two in Florida. Boston head coach Marco Sturm said that it would be up to Sweden if Elias Lindholm, who went on injured reserve last week, was going to be able to play in the Olympics. He was activated from injured reserve on Tuesday and returned to the lineup.
Bruins get good news on center Elias Lindholm on Day 1 of the Olympics
Elias Lindholm was, in fact, in the lineup for Sweden against Italy, and that is rather big news for the Bruins. Hopefully, he gets through the Olympic Games without an injury and can return to Boston's lineup after the games. Hampus Lindholm was a scratch for Sweden on Tuesday.
The news wasn't as good for center Pavel Zacha, who was ruled out of the Olympics for Czechia. He was injured one game after Elias Lindholm was injured last month with an upper-body injury. The health of both centers is going to be vital post-Olympics for the Black and Gold and their push for a postseason berth.