When you’re a 19-year-old child enjoying within the National Hockey League like Matt Poitras is, you’re going to take your lumps in varied points of your efficiency. It is a humbling sport.
For Poitras, probably the most obvious a part of his large league training has been within the faceoff circle, which isn’t surprising. Against the Islanders on Thursday, he received simply 4 of 12 attracts and, by way of 13 video games this season, he’s received 44 and dropped 66 for a 40% success. The rookie is the one common Bruin heart underneath 50%.
Those onerous knocks are nearly a ceremony of passage for any younger centerman, stated coach Jim Montgomery.
“It’s repetition and learning new tricks,” stated Montgomery of Poitras’ path to extra success. “When you’re youthful, you win plenty of faceoffs on hand-eye coordination since you’re only a higher athlete than most individuals. Then you’re coming in in opposition to guys who’ve received faceoffs for a very long time they usually’re tying up your stick, they’re knocking your stick, they’re coming down onerous on the shaft of your stick. There’s a bunch of various methods to wins faceoffs and also you’ve received to be taught that. It’s an acquired trait.
“You look at (Sidney) Crosby, when he came in he wasn’t very good on draws and he’s excellent now. (Connor) Bedard is struggling. It’s a specialty, right, and people take great pride in it. You go up against a John Tavares or you go up against a Bo Horvat, they’re going to school you if you’re young. The first thing they’re going to do is go with the move that they know wins against someone that’s new to the league. And then if they get beat, they go to a bunch of tricks, they come down on your shaft, they came underneath your heel. They use their foot to block your stick and then kick it back. Those are things he’s probably dealt with a little bit, but now he’s dealing with it against man strength, not kid strength.”
On Thursday in opposition to the Islanders, Poitras had a very tough evening in opposition to Jean-Gabriel Pageau, who received six of eight attracts in opposition to the rookie.
Despite the numbers, Poitras seems like he’s slowly getting higher on the sport inside the sport, although he is aware of he’s not going to step into the perfect league on the planet and dominate. He stated he does his the same old pre-scouting, however sooner or later it turns into a thoughts sport.
“I’ll watch some video before the game on guys’ tendencies but it’s more like a chess match. On one faceoff, you do this and then the next one, they do something different and you try to adjust to that. It’s hard to win faceoffs in this league,” stated Poitras.
“There were a couple of times where I felt like the puck gets swept back before I even put my stick down. It’s tough because some of those guys are so quick with their sticks and their hand-eye is off the charts. Sometimes for me, it’s more about just making it a battle so we don’t have them win and take possession. I’ll just try to give my wingers a chance to get the puck.”
As for his general sport, he readily admits his final couple of video games have been a problem whereas dealing with heavy groups just like the Islanders and Dallas Stars.
“These last two teams have been an eye-opener for me, two teams that play a hard defensive game and they’re physical. It’s just something different that I haven’t really faced. Yeah, it was eye-opening,” stated Poitras.
While the rookie didn’t get on the scoresheet in both of these video games, Montgomery preferred his sport in addition to inside the framework of his new line with Jake DeBrusk and Danton Heinen in opposition to the Islanders. And whereas he might not have had something tangible to point out for it, he did draw each Islander penalties that led to Bruin power-play targets, together with David Pastrnak’s game-winner. Though Poitras picked up a purpose and an help within the loss in Detroit, Montgomery felt like his sport in opposition to the Islanders was one in all his greatest current video games.
“His line at 5-on-5 was very dangerous in the first period and he specifically continued to play well throughout the game,” stated Montgomery. “I think that line has an opportunity. (One could) maybe overlook it because of the success of the (Pavel) Zacha and (Charlie) Coyle lines. But we think that’s a dangerous line.”
Rivalry renewed
The B’s journey to Montreal for a Saturday evening showdown with the Canadiens. Perhaps a bit spice could possibly be coming again into the rivalry that’s been dormant for a few years. The Habs are 6-5-2 after beating the Red Wings in Detroit on Thursday and are ascending of their rebuild. They’re being led in scoring by 22-year-old Cole Caufield (5-8-13) and resurgent veteran Sean Monahan (6-6-12).
“They’re a better hockey team,” stated Montgomery. “They’ve got players who are year older and getting their man strength. They’ve got a lot of good players. Their D corps is young but they’re good and I think they’re playing a more connected team game.”
Loose pucks
Zacha and Derek Forbort didn’t apply on Friday however Montgomery stated that each gamers have been taking upkeep days. …
With the return of Charlie McAvoy from his four-game suspension, Parker Wotherspoon was despatched again to Providence. …
Montgomery stated Jakub Lauko, who’s carrying a cage since taking a skate close to his left eye and struggling a number of bone fractures, might make his return to the lineup on Saturday.
Source: www.bostonherald.com