Don Sweeney and the Boston Bruins made a call to Providence for some extra help ahead of tonight’s game against the Flyers, with forward Matt Poitras granted his first NHL call-up of the 2025-26 season.
The decision to bring Poitras up from Providence comes with the Bruins down Elias Lindholm, and with Poitras in the midst of a year that’s featured eight goals and 24 points in 39 games for the P-Bruins.
“He’s gotta be himself,” Bruins head coach Marco Sturm said of the message to Poitras. “I don’t need to see anything special out of him, I just want to see him go up and down, and play really good defensively.”
Poitras is also coming back to Boston on a bit of a heater for the P-Bruins, with two goals and four points in his last five games played.
Speaking with the media following his club’s morning skate, Sturm said the decision to bring Poitras up was an easy one because the Bruins needed a center and he remembers Poitras as someone he trusted playing in the middle of the ice.
Based on the morning skate, the Bruins are expected to put Poitras at center on Boston’s third line between Mikey Eyssimont and Marat Khusnutdinov. With Poitras in the middle on line three for the Black and Gold, Fraser Minten is expected to begin his night as the center for Morgan Geekie and David Pastrnak.
This will be the first NHL game for Poitras since he skated in the club’s Mar. 6 loss against the Hurricanes last season. If you remember, that was the final game before the Black and Gold’s massive trade deadline selloff, and was Poitras’ final game of a 2024-25 season that featured one goal and 11 points in 33 games. Overall, the 21-year-old has put up six goals and 26 points in 66 NHL games since breaking into the league in 2023.
With Lindholm, though, the Bruins remain in a holding pattern.
“As of right now, day-to-day, so hopefully not too long,” Sturm said when asked for an update on Boston’s top-line center. “He just had treatments yesterday, today he’s going to be with the doctors. So hopefully we’re going to know more tonight.”
Lindholm’s injury occurred in the second period of Boston’s overtime win over the Predators on Tuesday night. Lindholm finished the game with 11:03 of time on ice, and had one shot and wins in seven of his 10 faceoffs prior to leaving the game.
And this latest injury for the do-it-all center could not come at a worse time for Lindholm, all things considered, as he’s currently on what feels like his most impactful run since joining the Bruins in 2024.
Over Boston’s last 14 games, Lindholm has scored six goals and totaled 14 points, five of which have come on the surging Boston power play.
Only David Pastrnak (28 points) and Charlie McAvoy (16 points) have been more impactful over that run, while Lindholm’s 14 points are the 36th-most among all NHLers over that run. These haven’t been ’empty calorie’ points for Lindholm, either, as the Bruins have posted a league-best 23 points behind an 11-2-1 record over that 14-game sample.
