Bruins’ Jim Montgomery Clarified Matthew Poitras’ Healthy Scratch Vs. Sabres

Bruins rookie Matthew Poitras missed the first game of his debut season on Thursday night when Boston lost its matchup against the Buffalo Sabres at TD Garden.

Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said Poitras sitting out had nothing to do with how he has played in Boston’s first 24 games.

“Just something we’ve been discussing is trying to put him in the situation to have a lot of success,” Montgomery told reporters, per the team. “This was planned. He’ll be back in the lineup on Saturday.”

The 19-year-old forward made the Bruins out of training camp when he gave them every reason possible to not send him back to his junior club, the Guelph Storm of the Ontario Hockey League.

In 24 games, Poitras has lit the lamp five times and added six helpers for 11 points which ranks him seventh on the team ahead of Jake DeBrusk and Trent Frederic who each have 10 points so far.

Even though Poitras is producing, Montgomery and the coaching staff are aware of how different the schedules are between the OHL and NHL.

“This is an opportunity for him to build some strength and rest into his program,” Montgomery explained. “It’s a grind. It’s a tough league. And this is a way we think he can help the Bruins the most and help his game the most in a positive fashion. This has been in the works for a little while. We started implementing it when we had finished those nine games in 16 days.”

With Montgomery confirming Poitras will suit up for Boston’s matinee matchup with the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday it will make one of the bottom six forwards odd man out. Montgomery didn’t give any indication which forward would be the healthy scratch.