Bruins give big injury update ahead of game against Sharks
When Boston Bruins center Elias Lindholm went down with an injury on Oct. 30 after taking a hit from Jordan Greenway of the Buffalo Sabres, it didn't look good. He had to be helped off the ice and was later placed on injured reserve.
Before the Bruins departed for California for their four-game road trip, it was announced that Lindholm would be traveling with the team. If he was traveling, it was likely that he was going to play at some point. On Saturday, he practiced in full with his teammates, but head coach Marco Sturm didn't say whether or not he would play against the San Jose Sharks on Sunday night.
“Doesn’t mean anything yet. We’ll see, still going day by day,” Sturm said of Lindholm’s eventual return. “See how he feels today, see how he feels tomorrow, and kind of go from there.”
On Sunday afternoon, it was announced that Lindholm was being activated off of injured reserve, while defenseman Charlie McAvoy was going on it.
Bruins getting Elias Lindholm back is big news
The Bruins more than held their head above water without Lindholm while he was out injured. They went from the bottom of the standings up to the top and are locked in a wild log jam in the Eastern Conference.
In Lindholm's absence, Marat Khusnutdinov centered the top line for Sturm before Pavel Zacha was moved up there against the Los Angeles Kings on Friday night. Also joining with David Pastrnak was Matej Blümel. What the lines will look like when Lindholm comes back remains to be seen.
After playing the Sharks, the Bruins will head to Long Island and play the New York Islanders on Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. Lindholm playing in San Jose would be perfect timing for him to have a couple of days off before playing the Islanders.
Morgan Geekie riding hot streak as Bruins face Sharks
The Boston Bruins round out the California portion of a four-game, pre-holiday road trip Sunday night in San Jose, meeting the Sharks for the first time this season.
The Bruins snapped a two-game skid and won for just the second time in five games with their 2-1 overtime victory at the Los Angeles Kings on Friday night.
Morgan Geekie posted his second consecutive multi-goal game. The game-winning tally at 2:27 of the extra session was his 16th goal of the season, one behind Colorado Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon for the NHL lead.
Last season, Geekie had just two of his career-high 33 goals before the calendar turned to December.
"I mean, I don't know if last year at this time I would have taken that shot in overtime, just the situation and where I was," Geekie said. "But it's easy to build confidence when you have confidence. I think over the last year it's slowly been building."
Boston's forward lineup featured a new look, with Czech natives Matej Blumel, Pavel Zacha and David Pastrnak making up the top line. Geekie played on the second line with Alex Steeves and Marat Khusnutdinov.
Coach Marco Sturm shuffled the lineup in hopes of providing more offensive depth and liked what he saw, despite the low-scoring output in Los Angeles, but Jeremy Swayman (31 saves) stood tall to post his sixth win in seven starts.
"I think it was just a better overall fit. We spread it out a little bit," Sturm said. "We just don't want to put everything on one line and put the pressure on them all the time."
Elias Lindholm could be closer to a return from a lower-body injury that has sidelined him since Oct. 30. He skated in practice on Saturday in full.
"We'll see (when he plays), still going day by day," Sturm said.
The Sharks had won back-to-back games in overtime and a shootout before a 3-2 Saturday loss to the Ottawa Senators, but are searching for their first regulation triumph since the end of a seven-game point streak Nov. 11.
John Klingberg and Barclay Goodrow scored San Jose's goals, but in a game that was tied 2-2 more than halfway through the third period, difficulty in the faceoff circle -- winning just 24 of 51 draws -- proved to be a key factor.
"We couldn't win a puck at all, defensively or offensively," Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. "When you don't win pucks, you basically just skate and chase it. That's what we did."
Warsofsky's team managed just 19 shots on net and allowed a power-play goal for the first time in five games. Their own power play scored for the fourth time in six contests.
"It definitely wasn't our best game," Goodrow said. "We were spending way too much time in our own end. I think when we play the way we're capable of and follow the game plan, it looks good on the ice."
From the general manager (Mike Grier) and coach on down, the Sharks are chock full of Massachusetts connections.
Macklin Celebrini, who won the Hobey Baker Award at Grier's alma mater, Boston University, in 2024, has had a torrid sophomore season. He is riding a four-game point streak and has 13 goals and 32 points in just 22 games after registering an assist Saturday.
Celebrini's linemate and former Boston College star Will Smith is the team's No. 2 scorer (seven goals, 21 points in 22 games). A more veteran addition has been Northeastern product Adam Gaudette, who scored his fifth goal of the season in Thursday's 4-3 shootout win over Los Angeles.
"He's been a nice kind of jack of all trades, of playing different situations," Warsofsky said of Gaudette.
Steelers' TJ Watt Gives Frustrated Statement About Defensive Struggles: 'Same Story Man'
The Pittsburgh Steelers lost a heartbreaking game on the road to the Chicago Bears on Sunday. The final score was 31-28, and the offense never really seemed like a threat. The defense often struggled to get Chicago's offense off of the field. The Steelers dropped out of first place in the AFC North after the loss and the Baltimore Ravens' win, and the team is completely out of the playoffs as of now as their record fell to 6-5 on the 2025 season. The defense made some opportunistic plays throughout the game, but overall the group has to be better moving forward.
The defense struggled overall. The Bears were able to put up 31 points and continued to move the ball down the field. Outside linebacker TJ Watt made a splash play in the end zone as he sacked Caleb Williams and forced him to fumble the football, and Nick Herbig recovered the ball for a touchdown.
Aside from Watt's big play, things did not go too well. He spoke to the media after the game, and he spoke about the defensive struggles while voicing some frustration with the group.
"They had a lot of second and longs where they got chunk plays that made it third and shorts that were converted or were converted from second and long." Watt said. "Same story man. Got to get off of the field."
Watt spoke about how the defense constantly had Chicago's offense behind the chains on second downs, but the Bears offense was often able to make plays to move the sticks. Pittsburgh allowed far too many conversions, which has been the case all season along. Watt was clearly frustrated about that, as that is something that is going to have to change if Pittsburgh wants to have any chance of getting back into the playoff picture.
The Bears were fairly efficient when it came to converting on third downs, and the group was also one for one on fourth down conversions. That tells the story of how the Pittsburgh defense continued to struggle getting the opposing offense off of the field, which has plagued that unit throughout the entire season.
Pittsburgh's offense did not do a great job of helping out the defense. Quarterback Mason Rudolph turned the ball over twice in the game, and the group also turned the ball over on downs in the first half instead of opting for a field goal to go up 10 points. Watt did not place any blame on the offense, as he was thoroughly dissapointed with the defense and the group's inability to consistently get pressure on Williams in critical situations.
Williams had one of the better games of his career. The second-year quarterback completed 19 passes for 235 yards and three scores, although he had a couple passes that were dropped by the defense. Pittsburgh failed to capitalize on some mistakes by Williams, and that is a big reason the team lost the game and fell out of the lead in the division.
Steelers In Serious Trouble With Daunting Schedule Remaining
The Steelers are going to have some trouble getting back into good playoff positioning as the team has to have one of the hardest remaining schedules in the NFL. Pittsburgh hosts the Buffalo Bills in Week 13, and the team also has two games left against Baltimore and a matchup with the Detroit Lions on the schedule. The franchise is going to have to pull off some upsets in order to sneak into the Wild Card or back into the lead in the division, and there is a realistic chance the team misses the postseason for the first time in two seasons.
