At the Bruins’ morning skate in St. Louis, coach Jim Montgomery addressed Matt Poitras being sent to Providence for the first time in his young career.
In 14 games this season, Poitras had one goal and three assists in 14 games. In his last four games, he did not register a point and had just two shots on net.
The way Montgomery sees it, some great Bruin players had to do some development time in the American Hockey League.
“Players like David Krejci and Brad Marchand spent a year and a half in the minors,” Montgomery told reporters in St. Louis about his message to the 20-year-old Poitras. “Don’t look at this as a negative, although it’s hard not to when you’re the person. It’s an opportunity to go play, get your game back. He’s a huge part of our future. We know that and we’re excited to watch his development and to come back.”
Coming off shoulder surgery last February that ended his rookie season when he surprisingly made the B’s roster, Poitras had a very good camp and earned his spot in Boston again. But once the season started, he flashed his obvious skill occasionally but he was too often a non-factor in games. He was also getting overpowered at times and taking big hits from hanging on to the puck too long. And it didn’t help that, with the fluid nature of the lines with the underperforming B’s, he didn’t have much of a chance to settle in with regular linemates.
According to reporter Mark Divver who covers the AHL, Poitras skated in P-Bruins’ practice centering veteran Max Jones, who recently cleared waivers and was sent to Providence, and the B’s top prospect Fabian Lysell.
As for the big club, they will be trying yet again to gain some traction against a Blues team that is, at 7-8, experiencing the same mediocrity that the 7-7-2 B’s are. The Blues have lost their last two while the B’s are trying to work past the ignominy of not landing a shot on net in the third period of a 2-2 game against Ottawa and then losing in OT to the Senators.
Anyway you shake it, the B’s have fallen woefully short of expectations. They’re ranked 25th in goals scored (2.50 per games), they’re 22nd in goals against (3.25), 29th in power play (12.5%) and 24th in the penalty kill (75.4%).
Montgomery, meanwhile, kept up the good fight to stay positive.
“In simple terms, we haven’t been defending well enough and we haven’t been scoring enough,” he said. “Special teams aren’t where we’re used to seeing them. So we’re off to a slow start. But we look at it as ‘OK, we started the off great the last two years, but we weren’t playing in June. So – get off to a rough start, overcome adversity, grow together, play into June.”
With the B’s down to the minimum number of skaters with the Poitras demotion and defenseman Andrew Peeke’s injury, Morgan Geekie will draw back into the lineup after three straight healthy scratches and he’ll get a chance to skate on the top line David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha.