Morgan Geekie leads Bruins to comeback win over Avalanche
The Bruins simply didn’t have enough of an offensive push — or any push at all, really — through 40 minutes of Saturday’s matinee affair against the Avalanche. The scoreboard said as much, too, with the Bruins trailing by one and with just eight shots on Colorado’s Scott Wedgewood.
But a call to the white-hot Morgan Geekie was all the Bruins needed to make, with Geekie on the board with a pair of third-period strikes to help the Bruins pull of a 3-1 comeback win at TD Garden.
Geekie’s first marker, which came at the 25-second mark of the third frame, gave the 6-foot-3 forward his third goal in as many games, and gave the B’s some much-needed life in what was a new game. And it would be Geekie who struck once again, this time at the 5:44 mark of the period, and with a primary helper to David Pastrnak once again and a 2-1 Boston lead.
For Geekie, hot doesn’t even begin to describe it at this point.
After beginning his season with just one goal through 18 games, Geekie has roared back for the Black and Gold really beginning on Nov. 27 and with his move to the left side on Boston’s first line with Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha, with 14 goals over his last 28 outings. In fact, only eight players in all of hockey have scored more than Geekie over that span, and that list is full of legitimate star players.
In goal, Jeremy Swayman made his return to the Boston crease after missing Thursday’s game due to an upper-body injury tweaked in the second period of Wednesday’s loss in New Jersey. Swayman was tested early and often in this game, too, as the Avalanche had nine of the game’s first 12 shots, and finished the opening frame with a 12-5 edge in shots over the Bruins.
Swayman’s poise was present throughout, though, and he finished with a 27-of-28 line in goal.
Elsewhere on the roster, Justin Brazeau made his return to action after missing Thursday’s game, and finished with a shot and two blocks in 8:01 of time on ice on the B’s fourth line.
On the Colorado side of things, forward Marty Necas and Jack Drury both made their debuts for the club after a Friday night blockbuster that saw them sent to the Avalanche from the Hurricanes as part of a three-way trade that landed Mikko Rantanen in Carolina as a Hurricane.
Boston’s victory over the Avs also gave the Bruins a season series sweep over the Avalanche for just the third time in the history of the Bruins vs. Avalanche/Nordiques head-to-head, joining 2022-23 and 1979-80. The 2022-23 was obviously Boston’s record-breaking season, while 1979-80 was Quebec’s first year in the National Hockey League. (The ‘season series’ part of this only acknowledges season where the Bruins and Avalanche/Nordiques had multiple head-to-head games against one another.)
The Bruins will get back in action Tuesday night in Buffalo.