When you’re a 19-year-old kid playing in the National Hockey League like Matt Poitras is, you are going to take your lumps in various aspects of your performance. It is a humbling game.

For Poitras, the most glaring part of his big league education has been in the faceoff circle, which is not unexpected. Against the Islanders on Thursday, he won just four of 12 draws and, through 13 games this season, he’s won 44 and dropped 66 for a 40% success. The rookie is the only regular Bruin center under 50%.

Those hard knocks are almost a rite of passage for any young centerman, said coach Jim Montgomery.

“It’s repetition and learning new tricks,” said Montgomery of Poitras’ path to more success. “When you’re younger, you win a lot of faceoffs on hand-eye coordination because you’re just a better athlete than most people. Then you’re coming in against guys who’ve won faceoffs for a long time and they’re tying up your stick, they’re knocking your stick, they’re coming down hard on the shaft of your stick. There’s a bunch of different ways to wins faceoffs and you’ve got to learn that. It’s an acquired trait.

“You look at (Sidney) Crosby, when he came in he wasn’t very good on draws and he’s excellent now. (Connor) Bedard is struggling. It’s a specialty, right, and people take great pride in it. You go up against a John Tavares or you go up against a Bo Horvat, they’re going to school you if you’re young. The first thing they’re going to do is go with the move that they know wins against someone that’s new to the league. And then if they get beat, they go to a bunch of tricks, they come down on your shaft, they came underneath your heel. They use their foot to block your stick and then kick it back. Those are things he’s probably dealt with a little bit, but now he’s dealing with it against man strength, not kid strength.”

On Thursday against the Islanders, Poitras had a particularly rough night against Jean-Gabriel Pageau, who won six of eight draws against the rookie.

Despite the numbers, Poitras feels like he’s slowly getting better at the game within the game, though he knows he’s not going to step into the best league in the world and dominate. He said he does his the usual pre-scouting, but at some point it becomes a mind game.

“I’ll watch some video before the game on guys’ tendencies but it’s more like a chess match. On one faceoff, you do this and then the next one, they do something different and you try to adjust to that. It’s hard to win faceoffs in this league,” said Poitras.

“There were a couple of times where I felt like the puck gets swept back before I even put my stick down. It’s tough because some of those guys are so quick with their sticks and their hand-eye is off the charts. Sometimes for me, it’s more about just making it a battle so we don’t have them win and take possession. I’ll just try to give my wingers a chance to get the puck.”

As for his overall game, he readily admits his last couple of games were a challenge while facing heavy teams like the Islanders and Dallas Stars.

“These last two teams have been an eye-opener for me, two teams that play a hard defensive game and they’re physical. It’s just something different that I haven’t really faced. Yeah, it was eye-opening,” said Poitras.

While the rookie didn’t get on the scoresheet in either of those games, Montgomery liked his game as well as within the framework of his new line with Jake DeBrusk and Danton Heinen against the Islanders. And while he may not have had anything tangible to show for it, he did draw both Islander penalties that led to Bruin power-play goals, including David Pastrnak’s game-winner. Though Poitras picked up a goal and an assist in the loss in Detroit, Montgomery felt like his game against the Islanders was one of his best recent games.

“His line at 5-on-5 was very dangerous in the first period and he specifically continued to play well throughout the game,” said Montgomery. “I think that line has an opportunity. (One could) maybe overlook it because of the success of the (Pavel) Zacha and (Charlie) Coyle lines. But we think that’s a dangerous line.”

Rivalry renewed

The B’s travel to Montreal for a Saturday night showdown with the Canadiens. Perhaps a little spice could be coming back into the rivalry that’s been dormant for a couple of years. The Habs are 6-5-2 after beating the Red Wings in Detroit on Thursday and are ascending in their rebuild. They’re being led in scoring by 22-year-old Cole Caufield (5-8-13) and resurgent veteran Sean Monahan (6-6-12).

“They’re a better hockey team,” said Montgomery. “They’ve got players who are year older and getting their man strength. They’ve got a lot of good players. Their D corps is young but they’re good and I think they’re playing a more connected team game.”

Loose pucks

Zacha and Derek Forbort did not practice on Friday but Montgomery said that both players were taking maintenance days. …

With the return of Charlie McAvoy from his four-game suspension, Parker Wotherspoon was sent back to Providence. …

Montgomery said Jakub Lauko, who is wearing a cage since taking a skate near his left eye and suffering several bone fractures, could make his return to the lineup on Saturday.