Bruins’ Morgan Geekie is scoring goals again — and he’s happy about it

TAMPA, Fla. — The lights at Raymond James Stadium will shine brightly on the ice for Sunday’s Stadium Series game. The tinted visor that Morgan Geekie wore for two games against the Chicago Blackhawks and Dallas Stars in January could help mute the lights’ harshness.

But the visor will remain parked. It is smaller than his standard shield.

“I didn’t mind it. But the shape of it is a little different,” said Geekie. “It’s too thin. I could see the bottom line of the visor. Then I scored in Dallas.”

Geekie was referring to the power-play goal he scored in the third period against the Stars on Jan. 20. By then, the game was over. The Stars were up, 6-0. They would win, 6-2.

But Geekie’s deflection of a David Pastrnak one-timer was his first in 13 games. It gave him the green light to put an end to the silliness, he acknowledged in retrospect, he had turned to in hopes of busting his slump: tinted visor, white tape on his blade, Victor Soderstrom’s 77 flex stick.

“We forget that we can kind of do whatever we want,” Geekie said of having all the equipment imaginable. “We get all the gear we want. I was kind of at the point where I wasn’t really stuck in anything. I just felt like screwing around.”

The goal against Dallas put Geekie back on track. He enters Sunday with a six-game scoring streak (five goals and three assists). Geekie, once parked on the third line during his downturn, is in his old spot as the left wing on the No. 1 line opposite David Pastrnak.

As for his gear, Geekie is back to normal again. He is wearing his usual clear shield. He is back to black tape. The Soderstrom stick he used for one period against the Seattle Kraken on Jan. 15 is no longer, replaced by his usual 87 flex Bauer Vapor Flylite with the Adam Oates curve.

“Feeling-wise, I never really changed much,” said Geekie. “It’s just nice to see them go in again.”

Geekie’s turnaround is partly because of Pastrnak’s brilliance. The No. 1 right wing has two goals and eight assists over the last six games. Opponents struggle to mute the Boston Bruins’ top line when Pastrnak is scoring goals and distributing pucks with an equal degree of ease.

“Just so many things in his game and between his ears that you can’t really teach,” said coach Marco Sturm. “The stuff he does on the ice daily. Even how he thinks the game. It’s different. You can see it in his game. He’s a very gifted, talented player. The way he plays right now for a whole month of January is pretty fun to watch.”

One of Geekie’s talents is wiring the puck home from difficult angles. His shot is that hard and that accurate. But one of the things Sturm noticed during his goal-less stretch was a habit of spending too much time outside high-danger ice. Geekie has made it a point to place himself between the dots more.

But he’s also shooting the puck with a higher degree of confidence since his goal against Dallas. He is feeling good about his game, even without Elias Lindholm, his usual center. Lindholm will not play on Sunday because of an upper-body injury. Neither will Pavel Zacha, the No. 2 center.

“They’re two of our best players,” Geekie said. “So we’ve got to make a couple changes. If everybody doesn’t try to do too much, just stick to our game, we’ve got good enough structure and we can rely on each other at both ends of the rink that we can kind of take care of it.”

Poitras gets muscle

Matt Poitras made his season debut in Thursday’s 6-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers as the No. 3 center with Marat Khusnutdinov and Alex Steeves. On Saturday, Sturm moved Tanner Jeannot and Mark Kastelic up to Poitras’ wings.

“Great veterans. Great leaders,” Sturm said of the two strongmen. “They will take care of him.”

Poitras had a game-high five shots against the Flyers. He did not score. That is OK with Sturm.

“Play a good two-way game,” Sturm said of his orders for Poitras. “Don’t worry about scoring or having assists.”

Steeves and Mikey Eyssimont practiced on the fourth line with Sean Kuraly. The Bruins are not carrying an extra forward.

Under the tent

The Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning practiced under an air-conditioned tent at Raymond James Stadium. The tent was in place to keep the ice in playable condition. 

“It’d be cool to see the stadium before the game,” said Andrew Peeke. “We know they’ve got to preserve the ice and what the purpose of the tent is for. (Sunday) we’re all going to have goosebumps all walking out and being able to see everything for what it is.”

Peeke is from Parkland, Fla. He lives in Fort Lauderdale during the offseason.

“I can count on one hand how many times I’ve skated outside,” Peeke said. “This is pretty cool for me, being from Florida and being able to represent the state and how hockey’s grown down here.”