“Certain steps, right?” said Zacha, explaining the process to his recovery and return to play. “It [took] a little longer, especially this time.”

Zacha, 28, explained the need to be cautious was due, in part, to the fact that this concussion “was not my first one.”

“It was frustrating that I couldn’t go [to the Olympics],” he said. “But it was just going to get worse. Now, it’s just so nice to feel good again and skate.”

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Zacha exited the lineup in a Jan. 29 win over the Flyers at the Garden, a night in which he contributed his 15th goal of the season during his truncated (10:46) amount of ice time. On a shift after he scored to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead 10:30 into the first period, he took a hit along the wall, noted Zacha, his head banging against the glass.

The initial pain was familiar, consistent with similar hits in the past, but he grew concerned when symptoms didn’t fade away upon returning to the bench.

“You can push through certain injuries — that was my mentality — but with this, you’re not even allowed to,” he said, noting the league’s protocols related to concussions. “It’s hard, you’re saying what your symptoms are, and for me, mentally, it wasn’t my first one, so you’re careful, right? You want it to be 100 percent before you get back on the ice.”

Team Czechia officials, said Zacha, understood his pain and predicament, as did family members who were looking forward to watching him compete in the Milan Cortina Games. Filip Chlapik, a familiar face from his junior days back home, subbed into his roster spot with the Czechs, who went on to fall to Canada in the quarterfinals.

“The hit was not a bad hit and it wasn’t really the hit itself, but my head hitting the glass,” he said. “I felt the headache right away, but it was the kind of hit that I don’t usually get headaches from … it might be vision at first, but this was the headache and it started to get worse. It wasn’t like a regular one for me.”

The Bruins will have both Zacha and Elias Lindholm back in the lineup for their return to regularly scheduled programming Thursday night vs. the Blue Jackets (game No. 58 of 82) at the Garden. Both veteran pivots were on the sidelines when the Bruins played their two games in Florida, both shootout losses, prior to the Olympic break.

According to coach Marco Sturm, both Elias and Hampus Lindholm visited the club’s Warrior Ice Arena facility Saturday morning, but neither of the Swedish Olympians joined the 50-minute workout. Per Sturm, they’ll both be off again on Sunday and rejoin the group for Monday’s workout at Warrior.

Meanwhile, Team Finland’s Joonas Korpisalo and Henri Jokiharju were in still in Milan for the bronze-medal game vs. Slovakia. Americans Charlie McAvoy and Jeremy Swayman won’t be on a plane until after Sunday’s gold-medal game vs. Canada.

Asked how soon he expects any of those four to rejoin his Black and Gold gang, Sturm had little more than a shrug to offer.

“Who knows?!” said Sturm, breaking into a laugh. “I’m not going to worry that [much]. They have a big game [Sunday] and usually they fly out the next day, right? They fly out, and we go from there.”

. . .

Prior to the puck dropping anew Thursday, both Bruins goalies, Swayman and Korpisalo, will be working from a virtually cold start. They backed up for their respective squads in Milan, though Swayman made one start in the preliminary round against Denmark.

Swayman’s last active duty for the Bruins was Feb. 1, a 6-5 shootout loss to the Lightning in the outdoor game at Tampa. Three nights later, Korpisalo had the net in Sunrise, Fla., where the Bruins again fell in the shootout, 5-4, to the Panthers.

Both goaltenders wrapped up on a down note on this side of the Atlantic, and now will return after a fairly lazy stay at Olympus.

Instead of the Black and Gold, Jeremy Swayman was outfitted in red, white, and blue for his Olympic start, and win, vs. Denmark.JULIEN DE ROSA/AFP via Getty Images

Sturm was asked how he’ll get Swayman and Korpisalo tuned up upon their return.

“Usually, you have one guy leaving [for the Games] and nobody has two guys leaving,” said Sturm. “The good things is, both of them didn’t play every night, so I guess I see that as a good thing, selfishly, as a Bruin. But somehow we’ll have to make sure they get some reps in, as much as we can, as early as we can, because we need ‘em. We need one of them at least. I’m going to wait, see what happens and figure it out — see how everyone feels and hopefully they can be with us as soon as possible.”

For the moment, noted Sturm, AHL Providence goalie Michael DiPietro would not be in consideration to make his Boston debut.

“Again, who knows, it might change in a couple of days,” said Sturm. “We’ll see where the guys are at when they come back, and Mikey might come back for another practice. We’ll see and go from there next week.”

The Bruins will practice again Sunday and Monday at Warrior Ice Arena, and again Wednesday after a day of rest.

Updates from the 2026 Winter Olympics, Jaylen Brown’s NBA All-Star weekend, and more on this week’s episode of Boston Globe Sports Report.

Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at kevin.dupont@globe.com.