Matthew Poitras has played well over the first 25 games of his NHL career, but the Boston Bruins center still has some work to do to earn the trust of the coaching staff in crucial third-period minutes.
Poitras was benched in the third period of Saturday's game against the Arizona Coyotes. The Bruins had leads of 3-0 and 4-1 but found themselves with just a 4-3 advantage 3:20 into the third period. Boston ultimately prevailed with a 5-3 win, but it shouldn't have been that close versus a much inferior opponent.
After being a healthy scratch in Thursday's defeat to the Buffalo Sabres, Poitras didn't take a shift in the third period versus the Coyotes. He totaled a season-low 8:26 of ice time, and it was just the second time this season he didn't receive at least 10 minutes in a game. All of this happened despite the Bruins losing top-six center Pavel Zacha to an upper body injury in the first period, leaving them without a key offensive player for most of the game.
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Poitras made a nice play on Danton Heinen's second-period goal. There were also a few times when he didn't manage the puck well. Poitras was among the players at fault on Coyotes forward Michael Carcone's second-period goal. With the Coyotes making a hard push and upping the ante from a physicality standpoint in the third period, Montgomery felt that other centers gave the team a better chance to win than Poitras.
“Valuing game management is something that we’ve talked to him about,” Montgomery told reporters postgame. “It’s still lacking in his game right now. We are paid to win hockey games and I’m going to go with the guys that I think are going to win us hockey games.”
It was pretty clear who Montgomery trusted in the third period, just looking at ice time.
Veteran center Charlie Coyle played a season-high 20:17 overall, including 7:52 in the third period. Morgan Geekie played 6:55 in the third period and 17:31 overall (his second-highest total of the season). Rookie center John Beecher played 11:27 overall, including 3:57 of penalty kill minutes. Trent Frederic, a natural center who mostly plays wing for the B's, also saw time in the middle. Coyle (16-for-22), Beecher (7-for-11) and Geekie (8-for-12) took most of the faceoffs and did quite well.
Managing the workload of young players is something teams are putting a much larger emphasis on these days. Bad performance isn't the only reason rookies are a healthy scratch or don't see the ice in the third period.
When asked last Thursday about the decision to make Poitras a healthy scratch against the Sabres, Montgomery made it clear that the team has a plan with the rookie center to maximize his effectiveness.
“Something we've been discussing is trying to put him in situations to have a lot of success. So, this was planned,” Montgomery told reporters after the loss to the Sabres. “He'll be back in the lineup on Saturday. This is an opportunity for him to build some strength and rest into his program. It's a grind. It's a tough league. And this is a way we think he can help the Bruins the most and help his game the most, in a positive fashion.
"So, this has been in the works for a little while. We started to implement it when we finished those nine games in 16 days.”
Poitras has posted 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in 25 games, which is a solid total for a 19-year-old kid who, before this season, had never played above the OHL level. He's had moments of brilliance offensively and some lackluster moments defensively. It's the typical roller-coaster that rookies ride as they get acclimated to the speed and physicality of the NHL game.
The Bruins are taking the right approach to Poitras' development. They're not going to give him a ton of minutes every night and increase the chances of fatigue settling in because that's when players hit the dreaded rookie wall. They will use him in on-ice situations that maximize his talents, most notably his playmaking ability. But the B's also aren't going to put Poitras on the ice when he hasn't earned it, especially when the outcome is in the balance.
While the Bruins do want to develop their young players as much as possible, they're also competing for first place in the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference. They're not in a position to develop players at the cost of losing too many games.
This experience should ultimately benefit Poitras and make him a more well-rounded player later in the season, which is when the Bruins will need him most.