Morgan Geekie played on the top line for the Boston Bruins while Pavel Zacha was sidelined with an upper-body injury for three games.
Geekie thrived in those three games, scoring twice and adding an assist as Boston went 1-0-2 against Metro Division foes the New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, and New York Rangers.
Geekie’s success, according to Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery, was due in part to the forward’s ability to generate second and third efforts in the game.
“If you don’t have it you can’t succeed in this league,” Montgomery explained, per team-provided video. “It’s a second and third-effort league. He has really in the last, I would say eight games… He’s been consistent with his effort. Hanging on to more pucks, he’s separating people and we just need that to be more common. I don’t think that he goes out of his way to lay big hits.”
Montgomery added: “I don’t think that he goes out of his way to try and lay big hits. (…) That natural second and third effort and going through people, it stops plays and it creates either offense, or it gets you out of your (defensive) zone and you’re not playing defense like last game. We had a lot of plays that could have been ended and we didn’t end them, especially in the third period.”
Along with Geekie, Montgomery pointed out the play of the fourth line in the Bruins’ loss to Minnesota on Tuesday night.
