Boston Bruins top prospects avoids major injury following dirty hit

After dropping the first two games of their second-round series of the Calder Cup Playoffs, the Providence Bruins won the next two on the road to force a series-deciding Game 5 Sunday against the Charlotte Checkers in North Carolina.

The P-Bruins grinded out a pair of road wins to force the deciding game and in the end, Providence didn't have enough in the tank to complete the three-game comeback, losing Game 5, 5-2, to the Checkers to end their season. Charlotte proved to have too much in the final game, but one of Boston's top prospects avoided a serious injury in the game and was on the wrong end of cheap and very dirty hit.

Bruins prospect Matthew Poitras avoids a major injury after cheap and dirty hit

Midway through the second period and Providence trailing 2-0, Charlotte's Will Lockwood hit Matthew Poitras high in the head area without the puck. Lockwood was given a two-minute penalty, but in reality, it should have been a five-minute major as it was a reckless hit to a vulnerable player.

If there was been an issue the last couple of seasons for Poitras, its been his injury history. He was shutdown in February of 2024 following shoulder surgery and did not return to the ice until last summer. This season, he battled injuries and avoided a major injury back in February when then New York Islanders forward Brock Nelson checked him into the open door on the Isles' bench. Nelson was later traded to the Colorado Avalanche at the trade deadline and finished the year with former Bruin Charlie Coyle.

Poitras is certainly a part of the Black and Gold's future, and a serious injury there, despite it being the final game of the year for the P-Bruins, would not have been good. He is facing a huge off-season and training camp next year to make the roster and spend the entire season in the NHL in Boston.