The Boston Bruins are headed outdoors this weekend, participating within the 2026 edition of the NHL Stadium Series against the Lightning in Tampa Bay on Sunday — the league’s forty seventh official outdoor game.
The Bruins will probably be without two key players for the competition, as head coach Marco Sturm confirmed that each Elias Lindholm and Pavel Zacha won’t travel to Florida, per Boston.com’s Conor Ryan.
“Sturm doesn’t imagine each players are in jeopardy of missing the Olympics, but more testing will probably be done,” Ryan wrote on Friday.
Lindholm is about to represent Team Sweden on the Winter Olympics in Milan next month, while Zacha will suit up for Team Czechia. It is a brutal update for the 2 veteran forwards, who’re each putting together strong 2025-26 campaigns.
The European forwards have helped the Bruins win 12 of their last 15 games dating back to Latest Yr’s Eve. They’re tied in third in team scoring, with 37 points; Zacha has played 54 games, while Lindholm has been limited to 44.
Lindholm was designated as day-to-day with an upper-body injury after leaving Tuesday’s 3-2 extra time win over the Nashville Predators. Zacha joined him on the shelf two days later, sustaining an upper-body ailment of his own in a 6-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers. He doesn’t have a timeline as of Friday.
Next man up for Bruins ahead of Stadium Series
Boston recalled Matthew Poitras from the AHL’s Windfall Bruins to fill in for Lindholm on Thursday. The 21-year-old managed five shots over 11 minutes of ice time in a fourth-line role. Tanner Jeannot and Marat Khusnutdinov each saw increases in ice time as well.
With two of their most efficient forwards out, it is not yet clear who will center the highest line alongside David Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie. It’s unlikely the second line of Viktor Arvidsson, Casey Mittelstadt and Fraser Minten gets split up; the trio combined for 3 goals and 7 shots in Thursday’s win.
Minten is now at 14 points in 14 games in January, behind only Pastrnak (25) and top defenseman Charlie McAvoy (16). He appears to be a top candidate to switch Zacha on the highest powerplay unit; Arvidsson is already up in Lindholm’s absence.
The depth scoring has been a giant reason for Boston’s success this yr, and it will be a next man up mentality until Lindholm and Zacha are able to return.
Despite being 32-20-3, the Bruins are still fifth place in an Atlantic Division that’s shaping as much as be the NHL’s best division down the stretch. Boston still occupies the second wildcard berth, tied in points with the Montreal Canadiens.
Every point goes to be critical down the stretch, and the Bruins have two more key games before the Olympic break. They’ll face the division-leading Lightning at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday — the house of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — before ending the Florida trip against the Panthers on Wednesday night.