Not solely is Matt Poitras precocious as a hockey participant, he has displayed an even-keeled maturity for a 19-year-old child.
But it could be laborious for the Bruins rookie to not be wowed by the second on Saturday night time when he goes again to his native Toronto space to play the Maple Leafs in his first foray into Scotiabank Arena.
Poitras’ smile was fairly vast when he was speaking about his homecoming at Warrior Ice Arena earlier than heading out for the flight.
“It’s pretty surreal just to think last year during Christmas break, me and my Dad went to watch a game there and now I’m going to be playing there. It’s pretty crazy,” mentioned Poitras on Friday.
“It’s going to be pretty cool to take it all in in warmup. But when the puck drops, I’ll just dial it in and play it like any other game.”
As assured because the younger centerman is that he received’t be unnerved by the second, coach Jim Montgomery is as nicely. Poitras is coming off certainly one of his higher video games this yr. He got here up with the large steal and help on Danton Heinen’s purpose that lastly acquired the B’s on the board early within the second interval within the B’s 3-1 win over San Jose on Thursday. He was additionally concerned in a number of different high quality scoring possibilities.
Poitras is being requested to have an effect in video games and, on most nights, he’s ready to do this. His dogged pursuit of the puck has been noticeable from the beginning and his team-high 11 penalties drawn signifies it’s not that straightforward to get it away from him as soon as he does get it. He’s acquired 5-6-11 totals in 22 video games.
“To be honest, I don’t think he was ever distracted by the bight lights,” mentioned Montgomery. “It’s a man’s league, it’s the best league in the world and here he is, doing a good job for us, helping us win hockey games. So I think there’s going to be moments where it’s going to be hard. And what we’re seeing is a player who has fought through the hard and is getting better.”
In Friday’s apply, Montgomery flipped Poitras and Charlie Coyle, with Coyle going between Brad Marchand and Heinen and Poitras taking up the road with Trent Frederic and James van Riemsdyk. Montgomery mentioned it was completed with the Toronto matchup in thoughts, in addition to merely having a look at completely different combos. Montgomery additionally checked out Poitras on the web entrance on the second power-play unit.
“Just trying a different look. He’s a real crafty player. With him being at the net front, he’ll move, and Charlie (Coyle) will be at the net front sometimes. It’s just something we want to work on because we haven’t worked on it before,” mentioned Montgomery.
With Poitras’ playmaking skills, it could appear pure that he will get a glance on the elbow. He could sooner or later, however in due time. The elbows are the brand new quarterbacks of the power-plays and it may be difficult for younger gamers with how shortly defenders shut on you, mentioned Montgomery.
“There’s a big learning curve with how to be a real good power-play player at the NHL level because everything happens so much quicker,” mentioned Montgomery. “You don’t have as much time and I’ve seen it everywhere I’ve been. Young players who’ve had a lot of success, it’s hard to be a real good elbow player because you’ve got to direct the traffic. The power play runs through the elbow now. It used to be the power play ran through the guy up top, but if you look at all the good power plays, it’s (Nikita) Kucherov, it’s (Steven) Stamkos that are making the decisions. It’s (Leon) Draisaitl and (Connor) McDavid. It’s Marchand and (David) Pastrnak. It takes a while.”
The net-front just isn’t unfamiliar territory to Poitras.
“Last year (in Guelph) I played a little bit of the net front on the power play and I think for me, I’m not a big guy. I’ll try to screen the goalie but I’m going to try and make some more skilled plays and get some touches,” mentioned Poitras.
.Poitras was planning to exit to dinner along with his household on Friday night time. While he’d frolicked along with his father on the latest Dads’ journey, he was glad to have the ability to spend some extra time along with his mom. Montgomery needs him to drink in the entire expertise.
“I think when a guy goes back home for the first time, you let him enjoy the excitement,” mentioned Poitras. “Make sure that you’re getting your sleep but, besides that, if he’s going home to have Mom’s favorite meal, I think that’s great. You should spend time with your family and it’ special what he’s doing Saturday night. Embrace the moment and make sure he’s thinking about his process that makes him individually successful that makes our team successful.”
While he could have grown up a Leafs’ fan, he wasn’t about to purchase a slew of the notoriously powerful tickets, exhibiting one other facet of his maturity – fiscal restraint.
“Tickets are real expensive. I looked into it, but, yeah, it’s real expensive,” mentioned Poitras with a shake of the pinnacle. “I’m lucky my family members were able to get tickets earlier on.”….
The B’s might be enjoying the Leafs for the primary time since Marchand and Toronto defenseman Timothy Liljegren have been concerned in a excessive pace puck pursuit, with Liljegren taking a nasty fall into the top boards and struggling a long-term leg damage. The Leafs and their followers noticed one thing nefarious however the NHL didn’t.
How will the B’s take care of the potential revenge issue?
“Same way we did in Florida (when the Panthers went after Charlie McAvoy for his hit on Oliver Ekman-Larson),” mentioned Montgomery. “We’re going to make sure we’re all in there together if anything does occur, but we’ve got a hockey game and we’re pretty close in the standings, two teams that are expected to be near the top of the division. So this is a big game going into Toronto on Saturday night. We’re focused on our task at hand.”…
The Leafs are in third place within the Atlantic,six factors behind the B’s. But nothing has come simply for Toronto. Though the Leafs’ file is 12-6-3, they’re tied for the fewest regulation wins within the league with 5.
Source: www.bostonherald.com