Defenseman Mason Lohrei, about to enter his fourth pro season, skated in session No. 2 with Henri Jokiharju as his partner, but left the workout early due to an undisclosed injury and did not return.
In a very competitive camp with roster spots scarce, and Tuesday night’s opener vs. the Rangers at TD Garden drawing near, lost auditioning time could prove costly for both players.
Specific to Poitras, coach Marco Sturm acknowledged that it complicated the 22-year-old’s chances to make the 23-man roster.
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“You want to deliver,” noted Sturm, examining the complication from Poitras’s viewpoint. “You want to prove to the coach, to the team, whatever, you name it. Then if you get one injury, with only a week to go, you are behind — that’s hard on the kid, for sure.”
Sturm added that Lohrei, 25, was faced with “doing some tests” for his injury.
“So we’ll probably have an update [Thursday],” added Sturm.
Headed into Thursday night’s exhibition matchup with the Flyers in Philadelphia, Sturm’s top two lines during practice shaped up this way:
JJ Peterka-Elias Lindholm-David Pastrnak and Casey Mittlestadt-Pavel Zacha-Morgan Geekie.
Sturm has been adamant since the start of training camp late last week that he will continue to adjust lines and defensive pairings. It’s highly likely, however, that those six forwards will make up the top two lines — possibly with some minor tweaking — prior to puck drop Tuesday.
The bottom six group, where Poitras has been a candidate to filch a roster spot, looked like this in the workout:
James Hagens-Fraser Minten-Marat Khusnutdinov (the so-called Kid Line) and Alex Steeves-Sean Kuraly-Mark Kastelic.
It’s less likely those two trios would remain intact, mainly because Sturm assuredly will want gritty left winger Tanner Jeannot in that bottom-six mix. Also, after watching versatile winger Mikey Eyssimont pot two goals in a 5-1 win over the Flyers, Sturm could be hard pressed not to find the veteran a spot. Jeannot and Eyssimont were centered in the workout by rookie hopeful Dans Locmelis, who also has impressed the coaching staff during the short training camp.
At 25, Bruins defenseman Mason Lohrei is an NHL veteran of 191 regular-season games and 14 in the playoffs.John Tlumacki/Globe Staff
On the back end, where franchise defenseman Charlie McAvoy will start the season sidelined by a six-game suspension, the workout had Nikita Zadorov paired with returnee Connor Clifton and Hampus Lindholm with newcomer Will Borgen (the former Ranger). That group most likely will comprise the top four on opening night.
If Lohrei remains sidelined, Sturm then has to cobble together another pairing from candidates Jonathan Aspirot, Jordan Harris, Frederic Brunet, and Jokiharju. The math gets tighter, and more complicated, once McAvoy is eligible for duty Oct. 13 against the Sharks in San Jose, the start of a four-game road trip.
Brunet picked up a pair of assists against the Flyers, bolstering his chances of putting Providence in his career rearview mirror after spending three seasons with the AHL affiliate.
“He’s been excellent — exactly what we were looking for,” said Sturm. “There’s still a ways to go, but we really liked the way he started camp from day one.”
. . .
Eyssimont, 30, suited up for only 56 games last season (8-10–18) and then just two of the six playoff matchups vs the Sabres. He doesn’t have to score goals to be an effective bottom-six asset, but all offensive contributions are welcome.
“I’ve always prided myself on being able to score goals,” said Eyssimont, who helped Team USA win a gold medal at the World Championships in 2025. “Obviously, that’s not the main role that I serve in this league, but it definitely helps.”
Sturm particularly liked that Eyssimont worked his way into high-danger scoring areas for his two strikes Tuesday. Getting those chances, and converting them, headlined Sturm’s “to-do” list from the start of camp.
Message received, said Eyssimont, a veteran of 269 NHL games.
“I think that’s something I want to be better at this year,” he said. “One of the things they showed us in camp is the heat chart, where goals were scored in the NHL last year. And it’s pretty straight forward.”
Once in prime scoring territory, providing the finishing touch often is a matter of technique.
“I know a lot of guys who score a lot of net-front goals, and they’re almost like Anthony Davis as a center in basketball,” noted the 6-foot, 190-pound Eyssimont. “They’ll spin off guys and the puck goes on their stick. I try to learn from those guys a lot. I don’t have the length some of those guys do that are better there. But there are guys who get it done and I’m bigger than them, so I am trying to work in that red-hot area by the crease. We’ve really focused on that in camp.”
Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at kevin.dupont@globe.com.