One Big Takeaway From Matthew Poitras’ Instant Impact In Key Bruins Win

Poitras had an assist in his first game back in Boston

After getting pushed around by the Tampa Bay Lightning last week, the Boston Bruins got their revenge at TD Garden on Tuesday night.

Tampa Bay out-shot Boston 45-24. However, the Bruins earned two points with a 6-2 win over the Lightning and improved to 22-19-5 on the season.

Before the Atlantic Division matchup, Bruins general manager Don Sweeney recalled forward Matthew Poitras from the club’s AHL affiliate in Providence.

The 20-year-old made an immediate impact on just his second shift of the game.

Poitras collected the loose puck for an odd-man rush up the ice with Trent Frederic driving toward the net. Darren Raddysh was the lone defenseman for the Lightning and he opted to drop to the ice to try and disrupt the play. Poitras kept the puck as he got close to the crease. Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy squared to puck carrier, and Poitras sauced a nifty dish to Frederic for the tip-in and a Bruins 1-0 lead.

The Bruins extended their lead to four on goals from Parker Wotherspoon (his first career tally), Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak before the Lightning got on the board. Tampa Bay scored two goals in the second to get within two, but the Bruins added two empty net goals from Andrew Peeke and Pavel Zacha to secure the win.

There is definitely some bad blood between the two clubs after last week’s tilt. Frederic dropped the gloves and Emil Lilleberg as an answer for his nasty cross-check to Bruins forward Mark Kastelic. Nikita Zadorov also had a tilt, although rather tame compared to Frederic’s. The massive defenseman took on Erik Cernak, but the referees stepped in before too much damage could be done by Zadorov.

The Bruins will look to extend their two-game winning streak when they travel north of the border to face the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. Puck drop from Canadian Tire Centre is scheduled at 3 p.m.