The Boston Bruins have been playing some of their best hockey of the season in the month of January. They have avoided big injuries. On Saturday night against the Montreal Canadiens at the TD Garden, they avoided a huge injury to defenseman Nikita Zadorov.
On Tuesday night, late in the second period against the Nashville Predators in what was a 3-2 overtime win, center Elias Lindholm suffered an upper-body injury taking a face-off just outside the defensive zone. He left the ice, went down the runway to the locker room, and never returned. He was not in the lineup against the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night.
Earlier in the day, the Bruins recalled youngster Matthew Poitras from the Providence Bruins in the American Hockey League (AHL), which signaled that Lindholm was going to miss some time. Down their top center, the Black and Gold could not afford another injury to a pivot, but once again, Boston suffered another injury, this time to Pavel Zacha.
Bruins center Pavel Zacha exits game against Flyers with injury
Without Lindholm, head coach Marco Sturm moved Zacha up to the first line between Morgan Geekie and David Pastrnak. That move paid off when Zacha scored the second of two first-period Bruins goals against Philadelphia. Like Lindholm, Zacha was injured in the second period, and it was announced that he wasn't returning to the game with an upper-body injury. Yes, Bruins fans, you can say here we go again.
PRETTY STUFF THERE, PAV 👌 pic.twitter.com/Vqww3IrQil
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) January 30, 2026
Boston will have two games to close out the schedule until the Olympic Break, Sunday against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Stadium Series Game, then next Wednesday night against the Florida Panthers in Sunrise. Those are two huge games for a team fighting for an Eastern Conference wild-card spot, and doing it minus their top two centers would be less than ideal.