Matthew Poitras needed to earn his spot on the Boston Bruins' opening-night roster with a strong first preseason game. Mission accomplished. The right-shot center was the best player in black and gold on Sunday afternoon, proving that Marco Sturm and Don Sweeney need not worry about losing him on waivers at the end of training camp, as he deserves to be, at minimum, the 13th forward.
Fans have been clamoring for the former breakout rookie to get his spot back on the roster, but it was clear that it would take a strong effort in training camp to beat out the veterans in his way. The 22-year-old has a growing fan club on social media, and it only grew after seeing the way he was flying around the ice.
Am I the most biased person alive or is Matt Poitras just obviously NHL ready
— Bear With Me (@BearWithMe_Pod) September 20, 2026
When Matt Poitras got his last real look one of the major criticisms we heard was he couldn’t keep up with the physicality. The guy is throwing himself around and keeping himself upright and always where he needs to be. No luck finding the back of the net, but he’s done the work.
— Slow Dave Doesn't Know Puck (@SlowDaveSays) September 20, 2026
Really like how Poitras is playing out there tonight.
— Mark Allred (@BlackAndGold277) September 20, 2026
Kids buzzing around!
Poitras clearly outplayed Alex Steeves throughout the game, even while Steeves played with two-thirds of the fourth line and Poitras had two AHL wingers. Even though Sweeney felt it necessary to extend Steeves last season, it might be time to admit the mistake and send the winger back to start the season in Providence to open a spot for Poitras.
In that scenario, Poitras and Michael Eyssimont could be the extra forwards, as the rest of the lineup seems set in stone based on how the Kid Line (James Hagens, Fraser Minten, and Marat Khusnutdinov) looked on Sunday.
Where Matthew Poitras could fit with the Bruins
The top six will include some combination of the Elias Lindholm and Pavel Zacha lines from early in camp. The third line looks increasingly likely to be the Kid Line, and the fourth line of Mark Kastelic, Sean Kuraly, and Tanner Jeannot deserves the opening-night nod after the service they gave the Bruins last season. However, Poitras still has a path to get some reps in the lineup.
Kuraly has been a solid player for the Bruins in both stints, but there were times when you could take or leave his performances last season. He is a reliable fourth-liner and penalty killer, but he doesn't generate much offense when he is on the ice.
One of the gripes of playing Poitras in the bottom-six is that he isn't overly physical and was easily bodied by the types of players he matched up against in those minutes. However, he looked visibly stronger and more comfortable getting involved in that area of the game on Sunday.
At some point this season, Poitras could make an argument that he is better suited as the fourth-line center between Kastelic and Jeannot. It doesn't seem like Sturm's wheelhouse to scratch a veteran like Kuraly, but they won't leave Poitras in the press box all season, either.
Clearly, Poitras made some kind of impact on Sturm in this game as well, as he took Steeves' spot with the goalie pulled to play with the Kid Line and Charlie McAvoy, and then won a key faceoff to set up McAvoy's tying goal with less than two minutes left.
Nevertheless, the main takeaway from the first preseason game is that we are now talking about ways to get Poitras into the lineup, which is a testament to how well he took hold of his opportunity against the Capitals.
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