Bruins’ Matt Poitras Gives Surprising Update After Freak Play
The Bruins had practice Friday morning, a session that surprisingly included Matt Poitras.
The Boston forward suffered an awkward and painful-looking injury when a bad-angle hit from New York Islanders forward Brock Nelson sent Poitras tumbling through an open bench door. Instead of falling into the New York bench, Poitras collided with the bench where the door was opened.
Poitras exited the game with a lower body injury and did not return. B’s interim coach Joe Sacco didn’t have an update Thursday night after the loss to the Islanders. So it was good news for the snakebit Bruins to have Poitras join the group Friday morning.
“It was kind of just an unlucky play … Obviously, it was a little scary,” Poitras told reporters after practice Friday. “It didn’t feel very good last night, but feels better today. (I’m) lucky it wasn’t worse than it was. Still a little sore but just a bruise.”
Poitras’ teammate, David Pastrnak, called the play “unfortunate,” saying the expectation is typically the door would be closed on a play like that, saying “you definitely don’t want to see that push around the doors.” If there was any ill will toward Nelson, though, it’s not shared by Poitras, who essentially insisted it was wrong place, wrong time.
“I think it was just very unfortunate and unlucky. Can’t really blame anybody for that. It was just kind of a fluke play,” he added.
As expected, Poitras said he was a little sore Friday, but it didn’t affect his ability to practice. That seems to suggest he’ll be good to go Saturday when the Bruins travel to Pittsburgh to play the Penguins.
The Bruins can’t afford to lose Poitras — or anyone else, really — at this point in the season. They are on the wrong side of the playoff line and haven’t won a game since Feb. 4. Poitras does have four points and is a plus-3 in the Bruins’ last seven games.