Bowman Ejected for Elbow on Poitras as Bruins Win Shootout Over Golden Knights

Braeden Bowman’s night ended at 2:49 of the second period, and Matthew Poitras’s night ended on the bench in a full face shield. The Vegas forward was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct for elbowing Poitras in the face on Monday night at TD Garden, Boston scored on the power play that followed, blew a two-goal lead, and still beat the Golden Knights 3-2 in a shootout. The result kept Boston’s home winning streak alive, but the image that will linger is Poitras returning to the bench with gauze in his nose, watching a game he could no longer play in.

What happened on the hit?

Poitras was carrying the puck up the right wing boards in front of the benches when Bowman caught him high. Gino Hard reports the Bruins forward dropped to the ice and headed straight down the tunnel, and NHL.com confirms the officials’ verdict: a five-minute major and a game misconduct for elbowing at 2:49 of the second period. There was no argument about the category of the call in the reporting that followed. An elbow to the face, with the victim leaving the ice, is the kind of play that ends a player’s night on the spot, and Bowman’s night was over before the second period was half done. It left Vegas short-handed for a full five minutes at the worst possible moment.

How did Boston use the five-minute power play?

Immediately, and then not quite enough. Morgan Geekie scored at 3:23 of the second period, just 34 seconds after the penalty, finishing Pavel Zacha’s one-time feed from the bottom of the right circle for a 2-0 lead. James Hagens, the 19-year-old rookie, had opened the scoring at 7:23 of the first period, and the Bruins looked in control. But a five-minute major does not win a game by itself, and Vegas proved it. Mark Stone cut the deficit on the power play at 14:58 of the second period, and Trevor Connelly tied it at 7:23 of the third, sending the game to overtime and then a shootout. Boston’s power play had done its job; its lead, like other recent Bruins leads that needed late rescues, did not hold on its own.

How badly is Poitras hurt?

Nobody in Boston would say yet, and that silence is part of the story. Poitras went to the dressing room after the hit, then returned to the bench wearing a full shield, but he took no further shift. Coach Marco Sturm said after the game: “He went in the room again, so I can’t give you an update yet. Hopefully it’s not too bad. We will see tomorrow where he is at.” Gino Hard reports he was seen with gauze stuffed up his nose under the shield, which matches the picture of a player who was bloodied on the play and patched up enough to watch, but not cleared to play. The Bruins have given no diagnosis, no timeline, and no word on whether Poitras will be available for their next game. Until that update comes, the only honest statement about his condition is that he finished the night as a spectator in his own team’s colours.

Who settled the shootout?

David Pastrnak, with the only goal of the tiebreaker. After a scoreless overtime, Pastrnak hopped over the boards, pulled the puck to his forehand and tucked it past Carter Hart’s left skate, while Jeremy Swayman stopped all three Vegas attempts. Swayman had already made 21 saves in regulation and overtime, and the shootout win stretched Boston’s home winning streak to six games. The Bruins improved to 11-4-1, with a second straight win and nine wins in their past 12 games, according to Reuters. Vegas, at 9-5-2, took a point from a game it trailed 2-0, but the Golden Knights are now 1-3-2 in their past six, and the point came at the cost of a forward’s ejection and a possible suspension.

Will the league add to Bowman’s punishment?

That decision is still open, and recent cases show it could go either way. Gino Hard reports Player Safety had not announced anything on Bowman after the game. A major and game misconduct for an elbow to the face will get a review, but a review is not a suspension: Emil Heineman’s knee-on-knee ejection, for example, drew no further discipline, as the Heineman case showed, while Frank Nazar’s illegal check to the head drew two games, as the Nazar hearing covered. The department weighs the act, the contact point, and whether the injured player missed time, and Poitras missing the rest of the game will be part of that file. Boston’s recent discipline history also frames the wait: Zadorov’s maximum fine for roughing, Evan Rodrigues’s maximum fine after a stick jab was downgraded, as the Rodrigues fine covered, show a department that fines the act it can price and suspends the act it judges dangerous. Bowman’s elbow will be placed on that scale in the next day or two.

Why does Poitras’s season make this hit sting more?

Because he had already lost the start of it to injury. Gino Hard reports Poitras has four goals and three assists in 11 games this season, and that he began the year on injured reserve after a practice injury. He was building a case for a regular role, playing through the bottom six and producing, when a hit to the face put him back on the bench in a shield. For a 22-year-old still establishing himself, a second spell on the sidelines, even a short one, is not just a medical question but a roster question. Boston’s depth covered for him on Monday, as it covered for Zadorov’s absence in the overtime win over Chicago days earlier, but depth is not the same as a player getting his season back.

What happens next?

Two updates to watch, in order. First, the Bruins’ word on Poitras: a diagnosis, a timeline, or at least a practice status. Second, Player Safety’s word on Bowman: a hearing, a fine, a suspension, or nothing further. Vegas also has a hockey problem beyond the discipline file: a team that has lost the plot in six games needs its comeback in Boston to be a start, not a consolation, and it needs to do it possibly without Bowman if Player Safety acts. Boston, meanwhile, takes a shootout win and a worry into its next game, which is the wrong way round for a team on a six-game home winning streak, and the right reason to keep Poitras’s name at the top of the injury watch.