At this point we can deduce that the Boston Bruins are going to need some assistance to get where they want to be at the conclusion of this season.
We’ve seen enough to understand that the Bruins don’t have enough offense to consistently beat good hockey teams, seem to have overrated exactly what Elias Lindholm would bring to the table as last summer’s big free-agent acquisition and now need somebody else to give their top-6 a necessary jolt.
The Bruins got that healthy little shock on Monday afternoon with a move slotting 20-year-old Matt Poitras at center between Brad Marchand and Charlie Coyle that sparked the newly configured line to score both the game-tying and game-winning third-period goals in a 6-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks at TD Garden. Poitras got the primary helper on both of Coyle’s key scores and showed the kind of youthful mojo that this team has been missing – along with Coyle getting more going to the net -- when it comes to the mysterious formula of creating bigger and better offense.
Charlie Coyle's centering pass deflects into the back of the net, giving the Bruins the late lead!#NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/GBJ8meLuG7
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) January 20, 2025
“To shoot more,” said Joe Sacco, when asked what the coaches have been preaching to Coyle to coax more offense out of a guy who has just 18 points this season after posting 25 goals and 60 points last season. “We tell him that all the time. Charlie has a tendency to overpass all the time and we have to constantly remind him that he’s got a good shot, and he needs to utilize it more and stop deferring at times. He’ll be the first to tell you that. We’ve talked about it as a group this year. We want to play off the shot more and that’s a bit part of it.”
Clearly it also looks like the organizational decision to take a step back with Poitras, and aid in his development by sending him to the AHL for a stint, was the absolute right one as he has returned with a greater level of confidence making plays with the puck.
The return of Poitras’ creative swagger and his ability to make plays is a direct result of dominating at the AHL level while playing in all situations over the previous month. That is what player development is exactly about for youngsters as they try to establish themselves at the NHL level. The whole key is that when a player like Poitras comes back from a development stint, that they look like are ready to make an impact and never go back down to the minors again.
Poitras looks like he's in that place and ready to be a factor for the Black and Gold.
“I'm really not shocked at all," said Vinni Lettieri. "He's an awesome player, but his work ethic, which people don't see, is what stands out to me a lot.”
Sure, Charlie Coyle continues to take a lot of the big draws for that line and will probably do a bit more of the heavy lifting assuming the center defensive responsibilities down low.
But Poitras energized both Marchand and Coyle in a way that it appears Lindholm simply couldn’t with a lot of opportunities to do that over the first four months of the NHL regular season. It appears that Lindholm just can’t consistently transport the puck as a center to get it to his wings in good offensive spots, a key part of the job description.
Monday’s win was a far cry for most of the last couple of weeks where David Pastrnak’s line had been carrying the proceedings offensively, and that new trend has to continue if the Bruins are going to push through.
“Early on, they were definitely working hard and competing hard, but there definitely wasn’t a lot getting done,” said Sacco. “I think what you saw in the third [period] was they were playing behind the forecheck, stopping pucks in the offensive zone and doing a much better job cycling the puck. That’s an area where Charlie [Coyle] is very effective using his size and using his strength.
“You could see even in Matt [Poitras] game that as the game progressed, he was playing a lot better too. I think with [Poitras] we’ve been looking for somebody to help us transport the puck through the neutral zone. On their goal he did that, he came through the neutral zone with some speed, held onto it and then kicked it over to Charlie where he scored. Somebody to help carry it through the neutral zone with speed really helps his flanks a lot and that’s what we’re really looking for. [Coyle] will do a lot of the faceoffs on that line and will be the low guy at times in our zone, but I really liked the balance of that line today and hopefully it’s something that they can build on.”
The Bruins certainly hope so as a viable second scoring line to go along with Geekie/Zacha/Pastrnak could really make Boston more difficult to handle offensively and bring out the best in Marchand and Coyle amid recent struggles. It’s been clear for some time now that something needs to change for the Black and Gold to get those players, in particular, back online.
“You just keep building it. You just stick with it, do the right things and play the right way and the game tends to fall for you. Sometimes it doesn’t, but more times than not the game just kind of finds you if you’re playing the right way,” said Coyle. “You get the [offensive] opportunities, you find them, and you capitalize.
“I think we can kind of feed off each other. Potsy is such a great player and still so young and finding his way. Every little bit that you’re up here [at the NHL] you gain experience, and you see him just keep getting better and better. More confident. It’s a hard thing to do to come in when you’re playing with a couple of older guys. It can be overwhelming. But he’s a guy that is quietly confident in a good way. And he’s skilled. He can hang onto the puck and make plays…he sees the plays.”
That in a nutshell is something the Bruins have badly missed this season: A player that can see the offensive plays as they’re beginning to develop, and then has the ability to deliver the puck in a way that turns it into offense. The young, playmaking center did that on Monday afternoon and now the challenge is to turn that realized potential into consistency that could give the Bruins a little more dimension offensively than the subpar attack they’ve featured throughout this season.
That, quite frankly, is something Lindholm has failed to do all year and it has been a big storyline amid Boston’s struggles at both ends.
It's to be determined if Poitras is up for it over the long haul, but the Bruins will need that kind of development – or an impact move at the NHL trade deadline for a top-6 forward – if they want to be one of the Eastern Conference teams left standing for the Stanley Cup playoffs at the end of season that’s shaping up to be a dog fight.