BOSTON — For much of Matt Poitras’ short NHL career, the Bruins have hesitated to put him on a top line with either Brad Marchand or David Pastrnak.
He has mostly played with a rotating collection of third-line wings. That’s allowed him not to have to face the top-caliber defenders that the top six forwards face, but at the same time he hasn’t had high-end linemates.
But with the Bruins needing a spark after Saturday’s disappointing loss to Ohio State, interim coach Joe Sacco took the training wheels off. He moved Poitras up with Marchand and Charlie Coyle while Elias Lindholm, who has struggled offensively moved to the third line.
The new trio struggled to find rhythm early, but when the Bruins needed a goal late, that line delivered. Trailing 3-2 approaching the midway point of the third, Marchand got the puck along the right-wing boards. Poitras was already scanning the zone before Marchand fed him along the goal line.
Poitras caught the pass on his forehand, switched to his backhand and snapped a pass to Coyle, who one-timed it by Yarolslav Askarov with 10:38 remaining to tie the game.
Poitras found Coyle again for the go-ahead goal on the rush with 5:49 left. As Poitras gained the line, two Shark defensemen converged toward him. He backhanded the puck to Coyle, who fired the puck toward the net from a difficult angle on the right side of the net. It wasn’t a shot per se. It was putting the puck into a high-danger place and hoping good things would happen.
The puck hit Askarov in the left leg and plinkoed down to the ice where Askarov accidentally pushed it over the goal line with his right leg.
Sacco was encouraged by the early results.
“With Matty, we were looking for someone to help transport the puck through the neutral zone and on their goal he did that,” Sacco said. “He came through the zone with some speed and kicked it over to Charlie and Charlie ends up scoring. … Defensively Matty was good tonight. I liked the balance of that line tonight. Hopefully, it’s something they can build off of.”
The two goals flipped the game as Boston added two empty-net goals and won 6-3.
The two assists gave Poitras three points in three games since he was called back up from Providence.
“Potsy is a great player. He’s still so young and finding his way. Every little bit he’s up here you gain experience. You can slowly see him getting better and better and better and confident,” Coyle said. “It can be overwhelming, but you don’t really sense that from him. He’s a guy who’s quietly confident in a good way. And he’s skilled. He can hang on to the puck and he sees the plays. He’s very smart. …He was a big, big part tonight. That’s what we need from them.”
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