Officially, the Bruins have four more games before they have to decide whether to keep Matt Poitras and begin his entry-level contract or send him back to juniors.
Poitras should be here to stay after 2-goal game
Unofficially, Poitras has already made that decision for them. The 19-year-old center made a couple things abundantly clear Sunday night in Anaheim: He belongs in the NHL, and he is already a difference-maker for Boston.
On the second night of a back-to-back, in a game in which the Bruins snoozed through two periods and fell behind 1-0 early in the third, it was Poitras who stepped up to play the role of hero. He scored his first NHL goal 1:24 after Anaheim’s goal to tie the game. Then he scored again 3:51 later to give the Bruins a lead they wouldn’t relinquish en route to a 3-1 win and their first 5-0-0 start since 1937-38.
The goals were rewards Poitras had earned. He was one of the few Bruins creating scoring chances on Sunday. In the first period, he spun off a forechecker in the neutral zone, raced into the offensive zone, ducked a hit along the boards, and made a nice pass to a charging Matt Grzelcyk for a point-blank scoring chance. In the second period, he stole a puck behind the Anaheim net and found Kevin Shattenkirk right in front for another point-blank chance.
In the third, Poitras apparently decided to just score the goals himself. On his first goal, he finished off a nice team transition by driving to the front and burying a centering pass from linemate Morgan Geekie. On the second, he again went to the front and this time banged in a rebound off a Jake DeBrusk shot.
“If you’re gonna produce in this league, you have to be willing to play inside the dots. That’s what I love about him,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said of Poitras. “Whether it’s one-on-one battles in corners or getting to hard areas, he’s willing to go to areas where you’re going to have success.”
The goals were also the culmination of a bounce-back weekend for Poitras after the first quiet outing of his career Thursday night in San Jose. He didn’t get a point Saturday in Los Angeles, but he did have another strong game and he played a pivotal role in the go-ahead goal. It was Poitras’s puck protection that keyed an extended offensive-zone possession, and it was his pass back to Derek Forbort that led to the shot that caromed off Milan Lucic over to Geekie for the goal.
Poitras and Geekie have been together pretty consistently so far this season, but they’ve had a few different left wings with them – first Trent Frederic, then Brad Marchand, then a little bit of Lucic on Saturday, and now DeBrusk. Regardless of who’s been on their left, they’ve been an effective line. During Poitras and Geekie’s 46 5-on-5 minutes together this season, the Bruins have outscored opponents 4-1, have 56.6% of shot attempts, and have a 13-5 advantage in high-danger chances.
With DeBrusk on Sunday, they had their most dominant game yet and were by far the Bruins’ best line. Beyond the two goals, the Bruins outshot the Ducks 7-3 when they were on the ice and had a 5-0 edge in high-danger chances. When any other line combination was on the ice, Anaheim led 22-7 in shots on goal and 11-1 in high-danger chances.
This is what a difference-maker looks like. He provides a spark when his team needs it. He makes smart plays with and without the puck. He hounds the puck in all three zones. He goes to the front of the net and isn’t afraid to battle and take contact.
“He’s a hockey player. He competes. He believes in himself,” Montgomery said of Poitras. “He’s always looking to hang onto pucks and make plays that are going to produce offense. … I think he has a nose for the puck. The puck kind of follows him around, and that’s what happens with guys who are good offensive hockey players.”
It’s fitting that Poitras got to play a little bit with Lucic this weekend. It was on a similar early-season West Coast road trip 16 years ago that a then-19-year-old Lucic, playing in the same nine-game extended tryout that Poitras is in the middle of now, had the game that he says “kept me in the NHL” – a Gordie Howe hat trick in Los Angeles in his fourth career game.
The 5-foot-11, 180-pound Poitras didn’t drop the gloves Sunday, and may not do that for a long time, but there’s a good chance we’ll look back on his two-goal performance in Anaheim as his “kept me in the NHL” game.