For now at least, Bruins’ coach Marco Sturm termed Elias Lindholm as “day-to-day” with an upper body injury, though he there was the caveat that the No. 1 centerman was still scheduled to visit the doctors when Sturm met with reporters after the B’s morning skate on Thursday.

The immediate future, however, was that Lindholm would be a scratch for Thursday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers. That precipitated the call-up of one Matt Poitras.

Poitras, still just 21, was viewed by some as the next top-six centerman of the Bruins’ future not too long ago. He may still be. But a major shoulder injury and a change in defensive system has, at least temporary, slowed down his development.

Poitras had a rough preseason and then was slow to percolate down in Providence. He’s now sixth in scoring with the P-Bruins with 8-16-24 totals and is minus-4 in 39 games.

In the morning skate, Sturm had him centering Marat Khusnutdinov and Mikey Eyssimont.

“First of all, (Poitras) has just got to be himself. I don’t need to see anything special out of him,” said Sturm. “I want to see him go up and down and play really good defensively. He’s going to play with a guy like Khus today, who is really good. He’s going to have his back. But at the end of the day, (Poitras) has just got to play hockey.”

Poitras had a rough training camp adapting to the new hybrid man/zone defensive system the B’s are playing under Sturm.

“Yeah, it was different. We’re playing a little bit of a different system down in Providence so it’s going to be a bit of adapting again tonight. It’ll be different, but I’ll be good,” said Poitras.

“With the new D-zone, it’s been a bit different but I feel like I’ve gotten better in the faceoff circle in the D-zone. I want to bring that up here and just be simple and try to do anything to help the team win.”

When he went down to Providence, his offense dried up as well for a time. He had a four-assist game the second game of the year against Charlotte but he he went his first 10 games without a goal.

“Obviously, there’s always a little bit of frustration. I see myself as an offensive guy,” said Poitras. “When the points weren’t coming, I felt like I was getting some chances. I don’t have as a hot of a stick this year as I did last year (when he had 17 goals in 40 games) and, yeah, there was some frustration but I had to stick with it.”

He’s got 2-2-4 in his last five games.

“I’ve just been simplifying my game, trying to play fast and moving my feet. When I simplify my game, the other stuff takes care of itself,” said Poitras.

The easier and perhaps safer call-up, if this is indeed a short stop-gap measure with Lindholm, would have been to bring up veteran Patrick Brown, who is leading Providence in scoring (14-27-41 in 39 games). But it speaks to how well Poitras has been playing recently that he got the nod.

“It’s been a long time ago (since training camp), but I remember he was a guy I really trust, especially in the middle,” said Sturm. “I’m not really worried about that and so that’s why there was not really a hesitation to call him up. Yes, he was playing better as of late in Providence, that’s one of the reasons. But on the other side, we needed a centerman and for me, he was the guy because I do trust him.”….

Getting the plum assignment of skating between David Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie is Fraser Minten.

“He showed it before. Mints is an easy one for me,” said Sturm. “Guys like Geeks and David, they’re at a different level, too. Sometimes it’s hard to please everyone but he’s another guy who nothing should really change in his game, just because he’s playing with two great players. Again, he’s done it before and there’s nothing really new for him.”

It will be interesting to see how much progress Poitras has made, and how Minten handles first-line duties. But the loss of Lindholm hurts for however long it lasts. He’s third in scoring on the B’s with 11-26-37 totals, with much of his damage coming on the B’s fourth-ranked power play (6-17-23). He’s also winning 54.3% of his faceoffs.

“I thought he’s in a good spot. I think that part of the reason David has been really good this year is him, because he kind of takes care of him in a lot of different ways,” said Sturm. “But I also think he’s been really good on the power play. You just notice when he’s not there. It starts with faceoffs. And he’s just a guy who’s always there in the middle of the ice. That’s something that I always liked as a winger and even on the power play. It think that’s why guys enjoy playing with him.”…

The B’s have fallen to 21st in the league rankings on the penalty kill. They gave up a key power-play goal to Nashville on Tuesday that allowed the Predators to get back in the game.

“First of all, our penalty kill is always better when we take less penalties. There’s the first step,” said Sean Kuraly. “Second of all, I think it’s just getting back into our groove and feeling good about it again. Our goalies ave been making good saves for us. It’’s just the small details of the penalty kill. We’’ll get back to it. What exactly it is is kind of the challenge but we think we’’re really clear about what our systems are, what are details are and I think the last few, they’ve beaten us in all different ways. Hopefully, we’re covering all those bases.”