Matt Poitras has a broken nose, according to Conor Ryan, and he was back on the ice with the Bruins at practice this morning.
On Tuesday, Poitras didn't skate after taking an elbow to the face against Vegas. Now there's a diagnosis, and a sign that the injury hasn't shut him down.
Ryan noted that the broken nose was "not necessarily a surprise."
Ryan also reported that Poitras was at practice wearing a bubble shield. Jack Studley saw the same thing from the ice.
That's a real step from Tuesday, when Matt Poitras missing Bruins practice after the elbow had fans fearing the worst. A broken nose, with a shield, is a problem hockey players skate through all the time.
The Bruins' Tuesday practice report said he could travel to Pittsburgh. Boston plays at PIT on Thursday, Nov. 5, and nothing available says whether he will be in the lineup.
What the Bruins would be missing without Poitras
Poitras has been a useful piece for Marco Sturm this season, with 4 goals and 3 assists in 12 games and a +3 rating. He had only just re-entered the Bruins lineup against Vegas on Monday, so the timing of the injury stings.
The hit itself is closed business as far as the league goes. Vegas forward Braeden Bowman avoids discipline for the hit on Poitras, so there is no suspension to soften the blow. Boston simply has to deal with the result.
That's a tough sell for fans who watched a player lose time and take a broken nose with no supplemental discipline attached. Bowman has 6 points in 17 games for the Golden Knights, and he skated 12:58 in Tuesday's win at Pittsburgh.
The Bruins can absorb a lineup question. They sit first in the Atlantic at 11-4-1 and won their last two, and the Penguins are 28th in the NHL with a 1-6-1 road-opposite record at home of 4-2-1.
Pittsburgh has lost three straight, which makes Thursday a good night to get back on the road. Whether Poitras is in the lineup for it is the one thing Sturm hasn't answered yet.
