The Boston Bruins started off the 2023-24 season with a win Wednesday when they beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-1 in their home opener. The team’s defense was stifling and the transition game was strong throughout the contest. Also notable throughout the game was the performance of the team’s third line, featuring rookie Matthew Poitras who made the opening roster after an eye-opening preseason made it impossible to deny him a spot.
Poitras would log 14:50 of ice time and recorded four shots on-net and an assist on Trent Frederic’s first goal of the season.
“I thought he was really good,” Trent Frederic said of Poitras. “It helps getting an assist in your first period. I told him, ‘I think it took me over 100 periods to have that happen. So, I don’t know what that feels like, but it’s probably good.’ I thought he played really good. He did everything he did in the preseason and even better.”
When discussing the 19-year-old rookie and his contributions to Frederic’s goal, head coach Jim Montgomery would point out just how integral Poitras was to making it happen.
“I thought he did well,” Montgomery said of Poitras. “The first goal we scored was all his savvy and poise with the puck.”
It isn’t surprising to see Poitras garner praise considering how well he performed all preseason long. It’s also encouraging to see that the Bruins’ third line as a whole performed so well in the regular season opener given how many changes have been made to the team’s lineup since the last time the team took to the ice in the postseason. Despite the fact that Montgomery would describe the Bruins team game as “very average” after the contest, it was hard to hate the effort of the third or fourth line, though James van Riemsdyk and Milan Lucic would swap places for a few shifts before reverting back to the initial lines in the third period.
A combination of Poitras, Frederic and newcomer Morgan Geekie would make up a very effective third line, however, and that’s something the team could look to build on moving forward.
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The trio would remain together for the majority of the game and according to Natural Stat Trick, put together a 70.59 Corsi-For% (CF%) at even strength while out-shooting the opposition 4-3 and outscoring their opposition 1-0 when on the ice together. It’s only one game and the sample size is incredibly small, but it’s better to have a positive first reaction to this trio than to leave the game having expected more.
Bruins’ Young Players Making a Splash
Geekie and Frederic are still both only 25 years old and are expected to take a step forward from their respective seasons a year ago.
Geekie, while with the Seattle Kraken, would score nine goals, 19 assists and 28 points, all career-high marks. Frederic, on the other hand, would also have a breakout season and scored 17 goals, 14 assists and 31 points in 79 games to set career-highs in every statistical category. It should also be noted that Frederic’s 17 goals from a season ago all came at even strength as the young forward didn’t benefit from power play time.
The Bruins will undoubtedly be worse than their team was a season ago with so many offseason subtractions creating obstacles for Montgomery to navigate. The good news is that the Bruins won’t be competing with themselves from a season ago and instead need to compete with the present-day competition in their division; this is a much less daunting task and sets more realistic expectations.
It’ll be interesting to see how all three players look moving forward – individually and as a unit. Geekie is a player many are excited about and he could actually prove to be a very fun addition to this team. Frederic has a breakout season and started off the 2023-24 season right where he left off last season with a goal. Poitras is still on what many assume is a nine-game audition given the fact that he cannot be sent down to the AHL this season; for him, it’s NHL or OHL this season.
Another interesting name to watch is Danton Heinen who remains a free agent but who is someone the Bruins are still actively considering adding to their roster. It’s unclear where he’d fit into the team’s plans, but he could be an optimal addition to the third line of this squad. If he takes a third-line spot from one of these three players, it’s likely they’d either be out of the lineup or they’d assume a spot on the team’s fourth line, likely on a game-by-game basis with Montgomery playing matchups more than anything.
It’s very early in the season and the Bruins have 81 more games to play. Still, the early showings from this third line were positive and that’s something fans should be expected about.