Need to Know: Bruins vs. Lightning

BOSTON – The Bruins are back on home ice to battle the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night at TD Garden in the teams’ second matchup in six days. Boston is aiming to build off its overtime victory in Florida on Saturday afternoon, despite it not being the club’s best showing.

“We won a game against Florida and that was the most important thing,” interim head coach Joe Sacco said following Tuesday’s morning skate at Warrior Ice Arena. “In this league, you win some games that maybe you shouldn’t, you lose some games that maybe you shouldn’t.

“I thought that game was one of those games where we weren’t at our best, but we found a way to win. I think we need to carry some of that momentum, as far as what we did in spurts in that game into tonight’s game.”

The Bruins are hoping that playing the Lightning, a team they recently lost to (a 4-1 setback last Thursday night in Tampa), will help elevate the urgency level.

“We have a good rivalry against these guys and I would expect that this game would be a game where the level of intensity should be cranked up even more here tonight,” said Sacco. “Shouldn’t need any extra motivation to make sure that we’re playing hard here tonight.

“We want to make sure we’re engaged in this game emotionally and physically without crossing the line.”

Here’s everything else you need to know ahead of the 7 p.m. ET puck drop on NESN and 98.5 The Sports Hub:

Poitras Back Up

Among a number of roster transactions on Tuesday morning for Boston was the recall of Matt Poitras from Providence. The 20-year-old was sent to the P-Bruins in early November and put up some strong numbers with 20 points (eight goals, 12 assists) in 23 games, including a seven-game goal streak through mid-December.

“Just got on the ice a lot more, more practices, more reps, just got that confidence back that I felt like I was playing with the start of this year, last year…just go out there, have fun, work hard, and let the rest of the stuff take care of itself. Just get that confidence back, get a lot of puck touches. I thought it was very beneficial to me,” Poitras said of his first stint in the AHL.

Poitras added that he feels more confident and better conditioned after playing additional minutes in higher-leverage situations with Providence.

“When I first got down, it was tough playing more,” said Poitras. “You go from playing less and you’re getting more shifts, that helps you figure out that you need to do more off the ice to get in better shape and be able to play more minutes.

“I just feel more comfortable as a player than when I went down. I just feel better overall being on the ice, just found the love for the game again. That makes you feel better when you get on the ice every day and come to the rink.”

The 2022 second-round pick said that finding his goal-scoring touch was the result of an uptick in shooting.

"When you get that confidence and you’re rolling, it’s a great feeling,” said Poitras. “Feel like I was just shooting the puck more and being a bit more selfish. Sometimes I look to pass more, when you get those opportunities, shoot, they don’t come that often. Just have to always shoot the puck and good things happen.”

Sacco said that he expects Poitras to play center on Tuesday night and help the Bruins create more offense through the middle of the ice.

“We need his ability to carry the puck through the middle of the ice, that’s one of his strengths. We’re gonna give him the opportunity to do that,” said Sacco. “The ability to make some plays, create some offense, whether it be off the rush in the offensive zone. His compete level needs to be hard away from the puck too. Some of the details defensively, playing in our own end zone, those are things that we take pride in and he’s getting better at that especially down in Providence. He’s getting stronger, which is a good sign for us

“We want to see him make plays out there, create some opportunities off the rush. We haven’t been generating a lot of chances off the rush, so hopefully he can help us in that area.”

Moving Parts

The Bruins also announced a number of other roster transactions on Tuesday morning:

• Charlie McAvoy was placed on injured reserve (date of injury, Jan. 11): “Charlie’s been dealing with a nagging injury for the last little while here,” said Sacco. “So he’s gonna be shut down for the next couple of games and then we’ll re-evaluate him after the game in Ottawa on Saturday and we’ll see where he is next week.”
• Hampus Lindholm was placed on long-term injured reserve: “No set back, Hampus is making good progress,” said Sacco. “He’s skating with [skating and skills coach] John McLean right now. The next step will be for him to join us maybe for portions of our practice, maybe the beginning of practice, whenever that time is. But he’s making good progress still.”
• Defenseman Michael Callahan was recalled from Providence: “He is an option for us here tonight,” said Sacco. “He’s more a of stay-at-home, defensive defenseman. He’ll be a guy that hopefully can play against some teams and give us some quality, hard minutes…make a good first pass, we’re not expecting him to create a lot of offense for us from the back end. Just be somebody that we can count on defensively to be hard to play against, protect the front of our net. Just do a good job transporting the puck up to our forwards.”
• Mark Kastelic was placed on injured reserve (date of injury, Jan. 9).

McAvoy, Lindholm, and Kastelic all skated on their own prior to Tuesday's morning skate.

Wait, There’s More

• Jeremy Swayman will make the start between the pipes for Boston.
• Charlie Coyle is a game-time decision with due to an illness: “We’ll see how he presents later on,” said Sacco. If Coyle can play, Sacco said “we’ll still figure that out” when asked who would come out of the lineup.”