Donnelly: Poitras keeps stealing the show & other takeaways from Bruins' preseason loss to Capitals

The Bruins fell to the Capitals, 5-4 in overtime, at TD Garden on Tuesday. Milan Lucic had a goal and an assist, while James van Riemsdyk, Mason Lohrei and Matt Poitras each scored for Boston. Linus Ullmark made 36 saves. 

Training camp is coming down to the wire with one preseason game to go and the season opener a week from Wednesday. Here are three takes I'll probably regret later...

Yeah, Matt Poitras isn't going back to Guelph

If there was still any doubt that Poitras wasn't going to make the team and get his nine-game NHL sample at the very least, it should be erased by now. 

Tuesday marked his toughest test of the preseason, playing the second half of a back-to-back with travel against a Washington lineup that boasted many of its key cogs, including the likes of Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson. 

While it wasn't Poitras' best performance of training camp so far, especially as his line with Brad Marchand and Trent Frederic struggled to gain traction, it was his most important. 

Aside from his goal, he had a takeaway, three blocked shots and won 10 of 17 (58.8%) faceoffs, playing 18:27, tied with David Pastrnak for the most among Bruins forwards and more than his 16:39 the night before. There was one instance in the third period in which Poitras dropped down to block a point-blank slap shot, got crunched as he got up and stayed out to finish his shift for another 30-40 seconds, even while he was in discomfort. 

His tying goal in the third was a beauty, aided by Marchand's efforts at the offensive blue line before Derek Forbort worked the puck low. Poitras caught Kuznetsov sleeping, slamming the breaks at the half wall and taking all the time and space as he back to the front of the net before burying it for a beauty. 

"Overall, like he competed, right? What you like is that he lost some battles but then he comes back and wins battles," Jim Montgomery said. "It was a good goal he scored to tie it up, and he continues to show a lot of poise with the puck."

The fact that Poitras was fatigued and didn't have his best, but still managed to make big impacts on the game, says a ton.

“I don’t know. I think I’ve played pretty well and I’ve done everything I can," Poitras said when asked if he thinks he's done enough to earn a spot. "So, I just think I’ve made it pretty difficult on them.” 

My opening night top-six – arrange the two lines however you'd like:

Marchand-Poitras-DeBrusk
JVR-Zacha-Pastrnak

I feel confident in saying Johnny Beecher will be the 4C

Another good game from Beecher tonight, which might be just what he needed to put himself ahead of Patrick Brown after some so-so showings from the latter.

"I think so," Beecher said when asked if he's made the impression he's wanted to. "I'm happy with the production I've had. I've done a lot of the things that I wanted to do coming in. Obviously, some tough decisions coming for them up top coming here in the next couple of days. Hopefully, we can stick around."

The qualities that will make Beecher a strong fourth-line contributor were apparent throughout the contest, between his skating, his physicality and his all-around game. No. 19 finished with four hits and perhaps most impressively, a game-high four takeaways in 16:15 of ice time. He also went 7-for-13 (53.9%) at the dot.

All it takes is practically two strides before Beecher is in a different zip code, and it was on full display in the third period when he busted through the Caps' defense for a strong look on goal. He forced some turnovers on the forecheck as well. 

"I thought he was really good," Montgomery said. "I thought he won a lot of battles that created offense. He got a lot of good offense from defense, which is you know something that was very encouraging to see. He played a really good hockey game."

Tonight's checking line of Lucic-Beecher-Jakub Lauko sure feels like it has a good chance to be Boston's fourth unit when the season opens up. Beecher and Lauko's speed should help out Lucic, while all three won't shy away from bringing the pain or engaging in their fair share of battles. It could be a trio that proves to be quite the thorn in the side of opponents. 

They got rewarded in the second when Lucic got on the board as his pass for Beecher in front deflected in for his first goal as a Bruin since March 31, 2015. 

“I thought that was a really effective line,” Montgomery said. “I gave them some O-zone starts, but mostly D-zone starts. ... So the speed and the combination of speed and will was pretty evident. They did a lot of good things out there.”

Beecher said, " I think we played a nice, heavy game there. Really kind of just dialed in being a heavy, hard line to play against, you know, getting pucks deep when you have to. Again, you know, just using our speed and being reliable in D zone. So I think it's going well."

Mason Lohrei is really close, but I'm not sure he'll make the team

Lohrei had another strong offensive showing in this one, cashing in on a nice connection between him, Lucic and Charlie McAvoy off the rush in the first period in near-identical fashion to JVR's tally. He made a great read to activate in the play and close in on the goal to get a shot away. 

No. 6 led the Bruins in ice time (24:40) as he slotted in on McAvoy's left, generating four shot attempts and two individual scoring chances in addition to drawing a penalty, landing three hits and blocking a shot. 

“I thought Lohrei was really on his toes,” Montgomery said. “That was the best I’ve seen him jump into the offense. Really supporting plays. I really love his goal, because that’s the way we want to play. Like once we get the puck, we want to transition with five guys going. It was nice to see a defenseman pass to a defenseman for a goal.”

Lohrei said of his offensive assimilation to the pros, "I've always loved umping up in the play and trying to use my skill and hockey sense to make plays. I think at first, you got to be a little more conservative, for sure, but as I get more comfortable, just try and keep doing what I do, and make plays to other guys because they're really good at finding me back. It's fun to play with these guys."

As we've seen throughout camp, Lohrei's offensive prowess between his skating and ability with the puck for a 6-4 defenseman (albeit a converted forward) remains impressive, and potentially game-changing once he comes into his own. But there are still areas of his game that need to be rounded out, particularly in his own end. There's nothing wrong with that, either. 

What Lohrei has shown us lately is that he's not as far away as previously thought. Still, there is no room for him on the NHL roster so long as a fellow left-handed puck-mover like Matt Grzlecyk (set to become a UFA next summer) is around. I'd hardly find it fair to ask Lohrei to do Derek Forbort's job as a third-pair, shutdown, penalty-killing defenseman. 

I think it's perfectly reasonable to let him cook in Providence, where he can continue to develop his full toolkit and keep him at the top of the list when there are injuries. Not to get ahead of myself, but I can see a scenario in which he makes Grzelcyk expendable come the trade deadline before stepping into a full-time role. The trade market and a return for a guy like Grzelcyk, or anyone in general, will always be much better when the demand is higher at the deadline. I digress.

While I think Lohrei will begin in Providence, he's put his best foot forward of late, and it wouldn't be outlandish to see him make the team. I'd be pleasantly surprised.

Closing thoughts...

• After another round of cuts on Tuesday, which included Fabian Lysell, expect more decisions on Wednesday. The Bruins want Thursday in New York to basically be a dress rehearsal, with a few exceptions, before ideally pretty much having their roster set by the weekend.
• Hated the flyby from Pastrnak on the OT goal. I know it's preseason, but woof. That said, I'm not going to completely overreact to the preseason, either. 
• Didn't love Jakub Zboril's game in this one – a bit out of sorts. The injury at the start of the preseason is crummy luck, but between the unfortunate circumstances and Ian MItchell's stock rising, he might be the odd man out on defense. Both he and Mitchell would require waivers to be sent down, and I'd imagine Zboril would clear more easily than Mitchell. 
• Thought Ullmark got much better as the game went on after a bit of a wonky first period. It was another disjointed defensive showing from the Bruins, and Ullmark helped cover up a lot, especially in the third period and overtime. He stopped 18 of 20 high-danger shots and 11 of 13 medium-danger shots. 20 high-danger shots are simply too many to face in a single game. 
• Good to see Pastrnak, JVR and Pavel Zacha cash in early on. Seemed like there was some decent chemistry offensively. 

The Bruins will be off Wednesday before wrapping up the preseason against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden in New York on Thursday.