Bruins dealing with another significant injury on defense

The good news for Marco Sturm and the Bruins is that the team could get defenseman Henri Jokiharju back in action Tuesday night in Seattle.

But the potential return of Jokiharju, who has been out of Boston's lineup since sustaining an injury back on Nov. 28, does not give Sturm a healthy blue line. Instead, the Bruins are apparently dealing with yet another injury ahead of Jokiharju's return to action, this time with Hampus Lindholm back on the shelf with an injury.

And one that certainly sounds concerning based on what Sturm said.

“It’s not going to be a day-to-day thing," Sturm, whose team is on a three-game point streak, said following Monday's practice when asked about Lindholm's injury status. "Hopefully it’s not too long, but he’s definitely going to be out for a little bit. We’ll have to do more testing when we’re back in Boston so we can go from there.”

Sturm added that Lindholm has "been hurt," though it's unclear if he meant that Lindholm has been hurt in the last contest if he's been playing hurt for the last little bit here. Lindholm did finish Saturday's game without issue (at least one that was visible), and finished with an assist and logged a pair of overtime shifts in a 22:47 night.

Lindholm is also less than a week removed from what was one of his best games of the season, with a goal and an assist in Boston's 6-2 win over the Oilers last Wednesday.

Lindholm has not traveled back to Boston ahead of schedule, though that admittedly means very little with just one more game on deck for the B's on this road trip.

“We just had our first appointment [Sunday] and we’re going to wait until we get back because there’s nothing we can do right now," Sturm said when discussing Lindholm's injury. "And then we’ll let our doctors decide our next steps.” 

Lindholm, who has three goals and 14 points through 34 games this year, has already missed eight games due to a lower-body injury earlier this season.

Sturm noted that Jokiharju looked "pretty good," which is a positive development when it comes to his potential availability for Tuesday against the Kraken. If Jokiharju is unable to go, Vladislav Kolyachonok would slide back into the Boston lineup.

The Bruins come into Tuesday's head-to-head with the Kraken with five of a possible eight points on this road trip banked away, but are a woeful 2-6-0 with Lindholm on the shelf this season.