Hampus Lindholm got some great advice from head coach Bruce Cassidy that helped calm his nerves ahead of what proved to be a successful debut for the Bruins on Thursday night.
"Bruce was great. He came to me right before the game," Lindholm told reporters after Boston's 3-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, per team-provided audio. "He said, 'play to your intuition. Just to be you out there. Don't try to think too much.'"
You'd never know if he was feeling any sort of jitters during the game judging from Linholm's four shots on net, four hits, a block and and assist in 23:26 ice time, including 4:26 on the power play.
Lindholm help set up David Pastrnak's first of three goals on the night and he seemed to fit seamlessly with Charlie McAvoy.
Overall, Bruins fans should be happy with what they saw from the newest member of the team at TD Garden, especially against the defending two-time Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning. Lindholm is a big body who used his size to win battles, his speed to get to the puck and his offensive skills to help the Bruins to victory.
Lindholm earned the praises of Cassidy and Pastrnak and even left strong first impressisons on Brad Marchand after practice. For Pastrnak, though, what impressed him the most was the fact that it didn't take long for his new teammate to play like he'd been in Boston for a long time.
"It was amazing. It's obviously not easy to come to a new team. Usually you would think it would take a couple games to learn the system and the way our D's playing overall, how's the structure," Pastrnak told reporters after the game. "But he was amazing and he's a lot of fun to watch."
If Lindholm already is having this kind of impact in his first game against a tough team in the Atlantic Division, he likely will be really fun to watch over the next eight years.
It's a small sample size, sure, but the way Lindholm came in and made an immediate impact certianly warrants reason to be optimisic about him.
Next up for Lindholm and the Bruins is a date with the New York Islanders on Saturday afternoon. Puck from TD Garden is set for 12:30 p.m. ET on NESN.
