BOSTON — Matt Poitras is a breakfast guy. Two years of playing junior in Guelph, Ontario helped him lock in on a go-to dish at Angel’s Diner.
Two months of AHL hockey in Providence made him a post-practice regular at Amy’s Place, followed by a cup at the Coffee Exchange. Poitras came to regret Mondays and Tuesdays, days Amy’s went dark.
“I don’t know if it’s that great for you,” Poitras said with a smile. “But it’s so good. Just go over to Amy’s and grab a sandwich. That was a daily thing.”
Poitras’ list goes on, including the Atwells Avenue mainstays: Tony’s Colonial, Andino’s, Massimo, Cassarino’s. A 23-game stretch in Providence, where he stayed in a hotel across the street from the Amica Mutual Pavilion, gave Poitras plenty of opportunities to explore the tables of Rhode Island’s capital.
Eating explained a segment of Poitras’ AHL assignment. On Nov. 11, the Boston Bruins sent the 20-year-old to Providence partly because he was not strong enough for the NHL. The second-year pro also required plenty of work on the ice and in the gym.
Two months later, Poitras’ grinding is showing. In Monday’s 6-3 win over the San Jose Sharks, his third game following his Jan. 14 recall, Poitras was promoted to No. 2 center between Brad Marchand and Charlie Coyle. Poitras assisted on both of Coyle’s goals.
“He’s an awesome player,” said Vinni Lettieri, who shared shifts with Poitras in Providence. “But his work ethic, which people don’t see, is what stands out to me a lot. Because there’s so many good players in this league. The guys that put in the work behind the scenes when no one’s watching, I have a lot of respect for that. He earns everything he gets.”
Poitras’ days of Providence dining may be over.
Evaluation time
Monday’s win vaulted the Bruins into the No. 2 wildcard slot, at least temporarily. How long they remain in the playoff picture remains to be seen. It will be a dogfight to make it in. Their best route, then, may be to acknowledge this year’s roster limitations and proceed with a retool.
Either way, it is time for the Bruins to give Poitras a serious look. Before general manager Don Sweeney and president Cam Neely make their moves before the trade deadline, they need to know whether Poitras can become the top-two center they believed they got in Elias Lindholm.
“We’ve got to find a way to give him more minutes,” interim coach Joe Sacco said before Monday’s win. “We want to put him in situations where he can be successful, obviously. But he also has to learn at certain points during games too that there’s going to be situations where he has to dig in. Maybe it’s a D-zone faceoff draw that we’ve started him in. Those are all just learning experiences for him. Right now, we want to continue to see his development go the way it has been the first couple games.”
Matt Poitras took the lessons learned in his first 14 games with Boston this season seriously. (Marc DesRosiers / Imagn Images)
It was different before Poitras was demoted to Providence. Jim Montgomery was calling the shots. The Bruins believed they were a Stanley Cup contender. When the Bruins sputtered at the start, Montgomery had no choice but to defer Poitras’ development. The Bruins had to win and make up ground. The ex-coach had no time for Poitras’ limitations away from the puck, especially when he wasn’t producing (one goal and three assists in 14 games).
Poitras tried to play perfectly on every shift. It was not possible.
This got to Poitras. By nature, he is a worrier.
“It wears on you pretty quickly,” Poitras said. “You’re just coming in stressed out. Just worried every single day that you’re not going to perform your best.”
Poitras’ game had crumbled to the point where a demotion had to happen. He was bummed. But it was his job to rebuild his game and his confidence.
So Poitras went to work.
AHL grinding
“It’s a good schedule,” Poitras said of the AHL, which stuffs its games into weekends. “Here, you play every other day. It feels like the days go by so fast. There, you just settle down for the week. You get your bearings, be able to practice and get touches in practice.”
On Mondays and Tuesdays, Poitras and his Providence teammates would lift. In practice, there was plenty of time for Poitras to play with the puck. In 23 games, Poitras scored eight goals and 12 assists.
Off the ice, Poitras found his rhythm. He had a small cooking area in his hotel. Mother Tricia visited him once.
Teammates Brett Harrison and Frederic Brunet lived nearby. Harrison and Brunet invited Poitras for dinner. Harrison, once a kitchen novice, has improved his shopping and cooking skills.
“I went to their apartment last year,” Poitras recalled with a smile. “They’ve gotten way better. They cook a lot more. I’m really thankful they cooked for me quite a few nights.”
Poitras is back in his Boston apartment with Johnny Beecher, his roommate for the past two years. The Boston-to-Ottawa hop aboard the team charter last Friday felt much nicer than the eight-hour bus ride to Hershey, Pa., which Poitras recalled as his longest AHL commute.
On Monday, Poitras looked at home on the ice, more so than in his first two games back. In the third period, after taking a pass from Marchand off the wall, Poitras separated from Mario Ferraro and rapped a quick backhander to Coyle in the slot. Coyle canned a one-timer to tie the game at 3-3.
Later in the third, after taking the puck from Mason Lohrei at the offensive blue line, Poitras gained the zone and stickhandled through San Jose’s coverage. He put a backhand pass into Coyle’s skates. But Coyle had time to kick the puck to his stick and send a shot from below the goal line off Yaroslav Askarov’s far pad and through the five-hole for the winning goal.
“We were looking for someone to help transport the puck through the neutral zone,” Sacco said of Poitras’ second-line ride. “On their goal, he did that. He came through the neutral zone with some speed, held on to it, he kicked it over to Charlie and Charlie ends up scoring. So somebody to help carry the puck through the neutral zone with some speed and some pace helps his flanks a lot. That’s what we’re really looking for. Defensively, Matty was good tonight. He did a good job in his own zone.”
The Bruins play next on Wednesday. Poitras is likely to get another second-line look. He could also see time on right elbow on the No. 2 power-play unit, which did not see any time against the Sharks.
Sacco knows Poitras will make mistakes. He will not hold them against him.
“We’ll correct the things we can correct with him,” Sacco said. “But there’s certain things you can’t teach that he does.”
(Top photo: Bob DeChiara / Imagn Images)
