As Monday's Bruins practice came to a close, coach Jim Montgomery lined up three pucks at the blue line and sent rookie center Matt Poitras out for three shootout attempts against goalie Jeremy Swayman.
There was a theme: Canada vs. USA. In this battle, the American Swayman came out victorious, stopping all three attempts. The Bruins' other American players surrounded him in celebration, chanting "USA! USA!"
Despite the outcome, it was a fun preview of what's to come for Poitras. For the next three weeks, he will not be representing the Bruins, but rather his home country.
A few minutes after practice ended, Boston announced that Poitras has been assigned to Team Canada for the upcoming World Junior Championships. The 19-year-old will join the team in Sweden on Tuesday, with group stage play set to begin on Dec. 26.
It was not an easy decision for the Bruins, and it was not finalized until the last day or so. Poitras has helped the Bruins win games. He has 13 points in 27 games and is tied for fourth on the team in 5-on-5 scoring. He could miss as many as nine or 10 games, with the tournament's gold medal game being played on Jan. 5 if Canada were to get that far.
General manager Don Sweeney explained why the Bruins believe it is in the best interest of both them and Poitras for him to play for his country, though.
"This is quite an accomplishment for all young hockey players," Sweeney said. "It's a chance to represent their country on one of the biggest stages. Now, it's unique in the fact he's playing in the NHL. So that's the first thing that probably goes through your mind, is what's the trade-off? But there's really no downside for him to go, represent, and be a leader on that team and hopefully accomplish the ultimate goal that all young players, certainly, want to try to accomplish. We're excited for Matty to represent the Boston Bruins, himself, his family, and Team Canada really well."
The Bruins have started to implement some load management for Poitras recently, scratching him for two of their last five games as part of a planned strategy to help with his rest, recovery and energy in hopes of avoiding a "rookie wall" later in the season.
World Juniors is not exactly the lightest schedule, as Poitras could wind up playing seven games in 11 days if Canada gets all the way to the gold medal game. But Sweeney believes it could help Poitras reset mentally, and that being a leader on the team – Poitras will have more NHL experience than any of his teammates – will be a good experience for him.
"We had a plan in place in recent weeks, that we needed to back off of what his load was," Sweeney said. "…Jumping in and playing the lion's share of all the games up until close to the 30-game mark, that's a lot of hockey, and there's a lot of pressure associated with that. I think this gets him to have a chance mentally and physically to have a little bit of reset, go get to play against your peer group.
"Again, it's high expectations and high-pressure situations that he's now been thrust into at the highest level you can possibly play, so he should be able to handle that well and should take those things that happen in our locker room and impart on his new teammates and lead from the front. That's what we're hoping for, and he'll come back and re-insert himself with us."
Sweeney made that last part clear a couple times: Poitras will return to the Bruins after World Juniors. This is not any sort of precursor to sending him back to the Guelph Storm in the Ontario Hockey League.
The Bruins' decision was made a little easier by the fact that Pavel Zacha returned to practice in full on Monday after missing the last three games due to injury, and that Morgan Geekie has played well at center, too. Zacha, Geekie, Charlie Coyle and Johnny Beecher figure to line up as the Bruins' four regular centers while Poitras is gone.
Poitras acknowledged some mixed feelings when it comes to leaving the Bruins for a few weeks, but said that playing in World Juniors is a dream come true and something he had set as a goal in the summer before he surprised everyone by making the Bruins out of camp.
"Obviously you never want to leave the NHL, but I'm excited to get over there and play for my country," Poitras said. "I mean, I'll never complain about that. It's a dream come true.
"Every year around Christmas time, it's the best time of the year because Boxing Day and you get to turn on the World Juniors, watching Canada play every single year since, I don't know how long. It's a good opportunity. I'm very excited."
Poitras said his parents are planning on making the trip to Sweden for the tournament, but that it might be tough for any other friends or family to get there given the short notice.
As for that shootout send-off he got Monday, Poitras blamed the ice for his inability to beat Swayman.
"The ice was terrible today," he joked. "I couldn't stickhandle. I'll leave it at that."
