Bruins lose Poitras to injury after freak play near Islanders bench 

Bruins

“As a player, you make sure that the door is always closed.”

The hits keep on coming for the Bruins. 

Just a game after the Bruins lost Trent Frederic to a lower-body injury, Boston’s top young forward in Matt Poitras needed help getting off the ice after a bizarre sequence. 

Poitras exited Boston’s eventual 2-1 loss to the Islanders on Thursday in the closing minutes of the second period — with the 20-year-old center in some serious pain after slamming into the side of New York’s bench at TD Garden.  

As he was skating by the Isles’ bench, Poitras was shoved by New York forward Brock Nelson — with the veteran getting assessed an interference call on the play. 

But what should have just been a simple minor penalty and a painful bump into the boards developed into something far worse due to poor timing on the part of Islanders backup goalie Jakub Skarek. 

Just as Nelson delivered his shove against Poitras, Skarek opened the bench door for New York — with the netminder seeing Simon Homstrom set to make his way off the ice.

But by opening the door, it led to Poitras colliding into the opening of the bench — with the second-year pro doubled over in pain as he was attending to by trainers.  

Poitras needed help making his way down the tunnel following the play, with the Bruins tabbing him as “unlikely” to return to the game due to a lower-body injury. Poitras did not return to the bench, logging just 7:08 of ice time in the loss. 

“It’s unfortunate, you know? As a player, you make sure that the door is always closed,” David Pastrnak said postgame. “You don’t want to see that, and you definitely don’t want to see a guy pushing around the doors. So hopefully Matty is going to be alright. Haven’t seen him.”

Postgame, Bruins interim head coach Joe Sacco said that he did not have an update on Poitras. 

Thursday stands just the latest setback for the Bruins and Poitras, who has been hampered by injuries during his young NHL career.

After a major shoulder procedure ended his rookie season in January 2024, Poitras was slow out of the gate this year — eventually spending over two months honing his craft with the Providence Bruins.

While Poitras still has some growing pains to work through when it comes to withstanding the physicality present at the NHL level, his poise with the puck is also evident. In his 15 games since getting recalled from Providence, Poitras recorded seven assists. 

Poitras’ injury is just par for the course for a decimated Bruins roster this month. Not only is Frederic now tabbed as “week to week” moving forward, Don Sweeney announced on Sunday that Hampus Lindholm is “unlikely” to return from a fractured patella that sidelined him on Nov. 12. 

Sweeney noted in the same press conference that there is no timeline set for Charlie McAvoy’s return to the ice. McAvoy was hospitalized last week to treat both an infection in his right shoulder and a “significant” AC joint injury that he suffered during the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament.