BOSTON — “Eighty-eight,” interim coach Joe Sacco said after the Boston Bruins’ 3-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday, “is playing pretty good hockey right now.”
Sacco is nothing if not understated.
David Pastrnak is scorching. The No. 1 right wing has seven goals and 10 assists in his last seven games. It is no coincidence the Bruins are 5-1-1 in this segment. No. 88 is a game-changer, touched with the blessing of chance creation on a club short on such commodities.
Yet for all his wizardry, Pastrnak does not lead the Bruins in five-on-five goal scoring. That title belongs to a player who was a healthy scratch in five of the Bruins’ first 16 games.
“I wasn’t playing my best hockey,” Morgan Geekie acknowledged. “Definitely struggling. Inside, I definitely felt a little bit of pressure. But I think it’s more about day to day and taking it one day at a time. It’s a long year. Being able to build on what you accomplish each day, whether it’s in a game or practice, I think that was a big one. I don’t know if I would say it would have come. I knew I believed in myself.”
Geekie had one five-on-five goal when the Bruins dismissed coach Jim Montgomery. In 31 games under Sacco, Geekie has exploded for 12. Geekie has recorded his team-leading 13 five-on-five strikes, three more than Pastrnak, by getting open, going to the front of the net and reading off his linemates well.
Geekie’s pair of five-on-five punch-ins against the Avalanche were most welcome. The Bruins were outshot, 28-15. It was the ninth time in the last 10 games.
Timely scoring has a way of erasing mistakes.
“I didn’t think we had our legs today. I really didn’t,” Sacco said. “You don’t want to use it as an excuse. But it was three games in just about three-and-a-half days. Sometimes you’re not going to have the juice you want. They certainly did.”
In retrospect, one of Montgomery’s sharpest moves was to give Geekie a top-line ride with Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha. Montgomery was desperate. The ex-coach needed net-front stiffness and a predictable presence to complement the two skilled Czechs.
Sacco saw enough of Geekie’s straight-line style to keep them together. They have become his best trio.
“He’s complementing that line by doing the right things,” said Sacco. “He still gets to the net front. We need net-front presence on that line. If it’s not a play off the rush, if you look at some of his goals, he gets right to the blue paint. Pasta’s found him there a couple times lately in the last few games. Being direct, getting to the net front, not overpassing, hopefully continue to shoot a little more and not defer so much. He’s just more confident right now.”
In the first minute of the third period, the top-liners got away for a three-on-two rush. Pastrnak, from off the right-side wall, found Geekie just below the tops of the circles. Geekie found an opening in Scott Wedgewood to tie the game, 1-1.
Later in the third, Pastrnak received the puck from Zacha behind the Colorado net. Pastrnak leaned slightly to his left to bait Devon Toews and Martin Necas into thinking he would emerge from below the goal line on his backhand. Toews and Necas bit.
Then when Pastrnak came out on his forehand, Geekie knew he had a seam going to the far post. Pastrnak put it on his tape for a wide-open slam dunk.
THE MAN CAN’T BE STOPPED 🤓 pic.twitter.com/i3MNrrpMPs
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) January 25, 2025
“He’s so good at feathering the puck through those defenders,” said Geekie. “I’m just trying not to miss the puck at that point. It’s a play that goes unnoticed by a lot of people. But it’s a high-skill play for sure.”
Things are coming together for the 26-year-old Geekie. He’s making plays in tight areas. When he has room to shoot, he releases it quicker instead of loading up. Geekie credits Linus Ullmark for the adjustment.
During practice, Ullmark informed Geekie he had a tell on his shot. Ullmark could stop more of Geekie’s shots than he should have because he was taking too long with his release.
“It’s not as easy to overpower goalies as it is to catch them by surprise,” said Geekie. “So if you can get three-quarters of the velocity, you’re able to surprise the goalie. There was a stat on (Auston) Matthews that with his velocity, his shot’s nowhere near the top. But he scores on goalies like the guys with the hardest shots do. He catches goalies off guard because his release is so quick. It’s obviously a world-class shot.”
Geekie has grown into the type of presence the Bruins would love to acquire before the March 7 trade deadline — a young, inexpensive, below-the-radar player with room to grow. The Bruins identified upside in the right-shot forward after the Seattle Kraken declined to issue him a qualifying offer, making him an unrestricted free agent.
The Bruins signed Geekie to a two-year, $4 million contract on July 1, 2023. It was one of general manager Don Sweeney’s shrewder moves.
Geekie will be restricted at year’s end. He is due a raise. He deserves it. Geekie is a keeper.
The Bruins need more like him.
(Photo: Brian Fluharty / Imagn Images)
