Boston Bruins
“He’s just got to play hockey, and that’s going to be the main thing.”
The Bruins called up one of their more intriguing prospects on Thursday ahead of their home game against the Flyers.
Boston recalled center Matt Poitras up from Providence, with the 21-year-old forward skating on a line between Mikey Eyssimont and Marat Khusnutdinov during morning skate.
“First of all, he’s got to be himself — I don’t need to see anything special out of him,” Marco Sturm said of what he wants to see from Poitras on Thursday. “I want to see him go up and down and play really good defensively.
“He’s going to play with a guy like Kuz today — he’s been really good. He’s going to have his back. But at the end of the day, he’s just got to play hockey, and that’s going to be the main thing.”
Poitras’ call-up comes just a few days after Bruins center Elias Lindholm suffered an upper-body injury during Tuesday’s overtime win over the Predators. Lindholm will not play on Thursday, although Sturm did not have a definitive update on his status moving forward.
“As of right now, day to day,” Sturm said of Lindholm’s status. “So hopefully not too long. He just had treatments yesterday. Today he’s going to be with the doctors and so hopefully we’re going to know more tonight.”
Thursday will stand as Poitras’ first appearance with Boston this season, with the playmaking forward logging 39 games with the Providence Bruins this year. During that extended stretch against AHL competition, Poitras has scored eight goals and posted 24 total points.
After earning a spot on Boston’s roster in 2023-24 as a 19-year-old, Poitras looked like a future top-six fixture with the Bruins — recording 15 points over 33 games before his season came to a premature end due to injury.
Since that breakout campaign, Poitras has struggled to get his footing back at hockey’s highest level — posting 11 points over 33 games with Boston in 2024-25 before spending another 40 games with Providence.
While Poitras didn’t earn a spot on Sturm’s NHL roster in October, Boston’s bench boss believes that the 2022 second-round pick has the means to stick in the NHL given his poise with the puck.
“It’s been a long time, but I also remember he was a guy I really trusted, especially in the middle — so I’m not really worried about that, and that’s why there was not really a hesitation to call him up,” Sturm said of his impressions of Poitras during training camp. “Yes, he was playing better as of late in Providence. That’s one of the reasons. But on the other side, we needed a centerman and for me, he was a guy, because I do trust him.”
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