“It feels really good to be out there skating around and wear the B’s jersey,” said Lindholm. “It’s a special feeling every time and obviously little extra jitters and butterflies coming out there tonight again. But no, it felt like it should. I was excited to be out there. It was a good first game.”
Lindholm was his steady self against the Flyers, playing 21-plus minutes and in all situations. He squashes plays and net-front kerfuffles with a remarkable coolness. The man known as “Hammer” rarely — if ever — loses his temper but will use his size and strength to deescalate situations.
“Yeah, he just has a super confidence all the time, especially defensively, just so calm and poised with the stick and knows when to strike and when not to,” said Mason Lohrei, his defensive partner in Philadelphia. “And a lot of times he baits the other teams’ forwards into making a play that he just takes away. So, fun to watch, fun to work with, and learn from. I’m just so happy for him. I know it was a long road, so glad to see him back out there.”
Marco Sturm couldn’t hide his smile when asked about Lindholm’s debut.
“He was great. He was so excited,” said Sturm. “He is just a solid defenseman. Yeah, once I think one or two shifts he got caught a little bit, but other than that I thought he was excellent.”
Lindholm spent the summer in Sweden doing more rehab and strength work with trainer Igor Vladimir to prepare for his return.
“I think I’ve been around long enough to kind of know the way around an NHL game, but it’s been fun to go out there and feel this good knowing all the work that’s been done on the backside of it,” Lindholm said. “And obviously there’s been a lot of people helping me to be able to come back and so it feels great.”
Lindholm was back at practice at Warrior Ice Arena Sunday morning, paired with Andrew Peeke, his likely partner when the regular season starts in just over a week.
He has shown a natural ability to work with a lot of different players on the back end. He often combines with Charlie McAvoy as a shutdown penalty-kill duo and has been paired with Lohrei on the second power-play unit.
“He plays all over the place and in every situation and guys that are hard to come by,” said Lohrei.
The Bruins announced their first wave of roster cuts. Forwards Joey Abate, Jake Schmaltz, and Ty Cheveldayoff; defensemen Jackson Edward, Colin Felix, Ty Gallagher, Loke Johansson, and Max Wanner; and goalies Simon Zajicek and Luke Cavallin will report to Providence’s training camp.
“Those players did a good job, I thought, last week,” said Sturm. “They gave us a good effort, a good attitude. They’re all good kids. And now, where we’re just opening camp in Providence, I think it’s better for them just to get some more reps and more playing time.”
The Bruins and Flyers will have a rematch Monday night at TD Garden . . . The club will have Tuesday off and then finish the week with two final preseason games: at Washington Thursday night and at home against the Rangers Saturday afternoon.
Jim McBride can be reached at james.mcbride@globe.com. Follow him @globejimmcbride.