It is safe to say that Geekie, one of the Boston's newest free agency acquisitions has yet to find his groove in a Bruins sweater. But could an injury to Bruins' centerman Pavel Zacha be the difference maker for Geekie's opportunities?
The 25-year-old forward has logged just over 14-minutes of ice-time, a slight increase as compared to his role last year in Seattle. The Manitoba native, started the season on the third-line before being dropped to the fourth-line after a mild, in-season injury.
Geekie, a 6'3'', 200 pound utility forward has shown the ability to play a variety of roles within the Bruins' lineup. This was especially evident today after B's first-line center Pavel Zacha left early in the game vs Arizona (upper-body injury). Geekie started the game as the fourth-line right winger alongside both rookie centermen Johnny Beecher, and speedster Oskar Steen. But after the injury to Zacha, HC Jim Montgomery shook up the Bruins' lines by moving Geekie up to the fourth-line while also double-shifting David Pastrnak as both the first and fourth-line right winger.
Geekie responded well to the change logging a season high of 17:31 minutes in ice-time this afternoon, alongside capturing an assist on David Pastrnak's second and insurance goal. The Bruins' ended up defeating the Coyotes by a score of 5-3.
"Obviously anytime a player of his caliber goes down, you know, it's kind of a hit to us, but we got a good group, you know everyone's got to step up, gonna play more minutes. So, you know, I'm just trying to do my job and, you know just fit in anywhere I can."
It is expected that Bruins' forward Pavel Zacha to be down short-term, so expect Geekie to see an increased role in the new future. Luckly, for the B's they have a four day break before they head to Newark to square off against the New Jersey Devils.