Donnelly: It's getting hard to cut Poitras & more takeways from Bruins' preseason loss to the Flyers

The Bruins fell to the Flyers, 3-1, at Wells Fargo Center on Monday as the preseason rolls on. Morgan Geekie scored on the power play, and Jeremy Swayman made 21 saves.

Here are three takeaways that I may or may not regret later...

It's getting harder and harder to send Matt Poitras back to junior

I don't think people are getting sick of the Poitras hype the way they are with the Travis Kelce-Taylor Swift bandwagon, but I'm here to give the kid his flowers again. Poitras was the best forward on the ice for Boston, possibly their best player on the night as a whole. 

Believe he won his first six faceoffs of the game before finishing 8-for-11 (72.73%) at the dot. In addition to the secondary assist on Geekie's goal, he also had one takeaway.

With No. 51 on the ice at 5v5, Boston had advantages in shot attempts (8-2), shots (4-2), scoring chances (4-1) and high-danger looks (1-0) in addition to an 85.01% share of expected goals. 

The 19-year-old earned opportunities on the top power play unit as well as the penalty kill. Once again, it was his offensive instincts that really showed through. He had eyes in the back of his head when he set up Justin Brazeau with a backhand dish to the high slot. 

Also in the first period, he had a terrific sequence in which he drew Owen Tippett toward the boards on the breakout before cutting back to find Hampus Lindholm for the outlet. Stayed in the play with good support upon entering the offensive zone before driving down the wall and finding Ian Mitchell in the slot for a great look. 

"I thought he did an excellent job tonight," Jim Montgomery told reporters. "He shows a lot of poise with the puck. He makes plays and makes intelligent support plays. He's someone that built our team game tonight out there. Made a lot of smart hockey plays."

It is definitely worth noting though that Poitras did not have a single shot attempt and took two hits. Came away from development camp thinking he heeds to shoot more, and that still stands. He took his lumps again tonight, but again, held his own and still made plenty of plays. Took a beating in the corner and on the half wall toward the end of the first and kept battling, but ended up taking a hooking penalty at the end of the sequence. 

Nevertheless, he's met every one of Montgomery's asks of getting better both as camp and games go on as well as contributing to the "team game." The work ethic is there in all three zones. 

I'd expect to see him get into the preseason finale at Madison Square Garden on Thursday. Barring anything significant, it feels pretty hard to deny him the nine-game NHL sample. 

UPDATE: Poitras is slated to center Brad Marchand and Trent Frederic in Tuesday's preseason game. How he does in the second half of a back-to-back could go a long way for his case.

Morgan Geekie needs a strong finish to camp

Geekie is still the frontrunner for the 3C spot, in my opinion, unless the Bruins decide they'd like to roll him on the right side with Poitras down the middle and Trent Frederic on the left to start. 

That said, Geekie has still had a relatively quiet camp up to this point, and he had his pluses and minuses in this one. 

He got on the board on the power play to open the scoring, finishing a slick feed from Charlie Coyle in the slot. Read and recognized the play well before making a very strong drive to the net and burying the pass.

Still, Boston was severely outplayed with him on at 5v5, trailing in attempts (8-18), shots (3-9), goals (0-2), scoring chances (4-9) and high-danger looks (2-5). Their expected goals rate was just 36.22%. 

He wasn't the only guilty party for the sluggish B's by any stretch, but he has left us wanting more so far in camp, especially with the expectation of a breakout season. I'd like to see him ramp it up down the stretch here, and I'd be surprised if he doesn't. 

"I think I got off to a slow start a little bit, getting the playing legs out. I got up to speed as the game went on," Geekie told reporters. "I thought I got a grasp of the positioning and everything throughout the game, and I felt really good. I think I'm really starting to learn and grow in the D zone and transitioning into the offensive zone, too. I'm just looking to take small steps every day and get better."

Ian Mitchell might have a leg up for the 7D spot now

Mitchell's primary competition for the extra spot on defense, Jakub Zboril, has been out due to injury. In his absence, Mitchell has taken full advantage of the opportunity in front of him.

He was again one of Boston's most active defensemen, accounting for five shot attempts and three individual scoring chances in his 21:43 of ice time, which trailed only Hampus Lindholm among Bruins skaters.

All three of Mitchell's scoring chances came in dangerous areas of the ice, right around the slot. He was the beneficiary of the aforementioned sequence from Poitras in the first period, getting a great look in the middle of the ice. 

His skating ability and poise with the puck offensively definitely help him stand apart from the crowd, and I thought his game in his own zone was solid tonight, considering how much Boston was on its heels. He blocked a pair of shots in addition to drawing a penalty.

I think his overall game still has areas to improve, but he has impressed in Zboril's absence. Both would have to clear waivers, and Mitchell only makes $775,000. Zboril is at approximately $1.14 million. Every bit counts these days.

"One of the few players – I thought – in our lineup that I noticed skating tonight," Montgomery said of Mitchell. "Overall, it's hard to say because we didn't have the puck very often tonight. You know, when you don't have the puck, you're chasing the game and you're checking a lot. And we were checking slow, so a lot of times it was hard to notice a lot of players tonight."

Closing thoughts...

• Swayman was solid. Stopped six of eight high-danger shots. Like Linus Ullmark, he was shaking off the rust in his first game action of camp, and he'll get there. If I had to guess, Ullmark gets tomorrow's game while Swayman gets another tune-up on Thursday. Montgomery: "I thought he was terrific on the penalty kill. I thought he gave us a chance early on. We got up 1-0 because he was so sharp early. He had to defend a lot because we had to defend a lot. That makes it hard for goaltenders. ... He did well for us tonight."
• It should have been easy to deduce coming into this one, but Fabian Lysell isn't going to make the team this year. That's fine. Turnovers and frustration killed him in this one, and his play along the boards is also on the list of improvements. He's only 20, and he'll be able to develop in Providence. I still think he'll be OK. 
• I know Patrick Brown was with the veteran group in Sunday's split practices, but I just haven't seen enough from him to warrant the 4C spot over Johnny Beecher. Brown is smart, solid defensively and hard-nosed, but his skating just isn't up to snuff. Beecher's skating and being left-handed is a big advantage. 
• It was a night of the eye test clashing with the numbers for Jesper Boqvist. Thought he was kind of quiet, but his underlying numbers were sparkling. With him on the ice at 5v5, the Bruins had an 11-2 edge in shot attempts, 4-2 in shots, 6-1 in scoring chances and 2-0 in high-danger looks. Maybe it was a product of lining up with Poitras. If he gets into Thursday's game, it'll be a huge opportunity for him. 
• The Bruins have dealt quite a bit of self-inflicted wounds and sluggish starts so far in the preseason. That'll need to change. Montgomery: "I thought we turned a lot of pucks over unnecessarily. ... We just weren't sharp. I didn't think we won enough battles. I didn't think our puck support was quick enough offensively or defensively to get back on offense. In turn, we just didn't generate enough opportunities in the offensive zone because very rarely did we have the puck there."
• Echoing what I said Friday – Bobby Brink is so much fun to watch. He deserves to make the Flyers. A lot of Denver representation in the rink tonight between him, Mitchell and Montgomery. 

The Bruins will be back at it tomorrow night against the Capitals at TD Garden before wrapping up the preseason against the Rangers in New York on Thursday.