If the Boston Bruins are going to have even a remote chance to do anything during the Stanley Cup playoffs, they were going to need to get Morgan Geekie back online offensively.
That finally happened on Tuesday night as Geekie exploded for a hat trick while snapping a 17-game goalless streak, and the Bruins salvaged a point in a 6-5 overtime loss to the Carolina Hurricanes at the Lenovo Center.
MORGAN GEEKIE pic.twitter.com/T3vSNo52Su
— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) April 7, 2026
“The whole bench was happy when he scored,” said Marco Sturm. “We need him.”
It was a solid comeback as the B’s fell apart defensively in the second period to the point that Sturm pulled Jeremy Swayman from the game, but stormed back in the third, led by Geekie, Pavel Zacha, and some strong relief goalie work from Joonas Korpisalo.
“We just lost control in that second period,” said Sturm. “We just did a lot of bad things out there. This is playoff hockey and you just can’t do those things like that. I don’t we understood that.
“But in the third period we wanted to play a certain way that would at least give us a chance. Guys responded really well in the third [period].”
The goal-scoring outburst, not so surprisingly, coincided with Geekie moving back over to the left wing, and being paired back up with B’s game-breaking winger David Pastrnak.
It was Pastrnak that collected primary assists on Geekie’s first two goals around the net front prior to Geekie tipping home a Nikita Zadorov blast in the third period to cap off the second hat trick of his career.
Morgan Geekie 🎩🎩🎩 pic.twitter.com/RYWsIsEWvx
— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) April 8, 2026
The three-goal performances provide a lot of credible evidence that the Bruins should leave Geekie and Pastrnak together for a prospective postseason, even if Sturm has liked No. 88 skating with rookie Fraser Minten and Russian energizer bunny Marat Khusnutdinov for long stretches of this season.
The scoring binge was obviously good news for the scuffling Geekie, and the overall five-goal barrage was a welcome bit of offense for a team that struggled to score at all on the four-game road trip.
“It’s awesome. He’s a heck of a shooter and player for us,” said Pastrnak of Geekie reclaiming his scoring touch. “It’s good he got the goals…happy for him.”
The struggles for Geekie seemed to reach a boiling point in Philly when he smashed a stick into the glass in Philly after a golden scoring chance from the slot was blocked by a Flyers defender. But the release that comes with the goal eases the pressure a bit ahead of a potential postseason run for Boston and could portend a hot stretch coming for a hot-shooting player that’s proven to be very streaky this season.
“It’s always nice [to score] but on days like today it doesn’t really mean anything,” said Geekie. “Mentally I guess…sure. But in this room, it doesn’t matter if you score six goals [if you lose]. Losses like that are tough to swallow, for sure.
“[Pastrnak] is a world-class player, and he makes those plays all the time, so I think we’ve played together enough the last few years that I’ve learned to be where he likes to get the puck. To be honest, I think I scored one around the net the last time we played in Carolina. So I just try to be in the right spots for him because he makes plays all the time.”
The other half of that offensive equation was Zacha scoring the game-tying goal in the third period during Boston’s comeback, another clutch goal for the Czech center and the first time he’s hit the 30-goal milestone in his NHL career.
30 GOALS FOR PAVEL ZACHA pic.twitter.com/YMi1BmhT9Z
— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) April 8, 2026
As Geekie slowed down offensively coming out of the Olympic break, it was Zacha that stepped up and led the Bruins on their march toward the Stanley Cup playoffs and continues to be a massive offensive catalyst for a second line of Zacha, Viktor Arvidsson and Casey Mittelstadt that’s been a game-changer with their five-on-five offense supplied to the Black and Gold.
So the silver lining for the Bruins is that Geekie has finally gotten going again offensively, and points in each of the last two overtime losses keep a four-point cushion in place for a wild-card playoff spot for the Black and Gold.
The five goals scored overall were a necessary accomplishment after scrapping for just three goals in their previous three games, even if they were playing the kind of defensive level they hope to be at for the playoffs.
The Bruins hold a 98.8 percent chance of qualifying for the playoffs and could even clinch a postseason spot prior to playing again on Saturday afternoon against the Tampa Bay Lightning at TD Garden.
Playoff chances as of Wednesday https://t.co/RbnckCLHNP pic.twitter.com/Twk01sZEPb
— MoneyPuck.com (@MoneyPuckdotcom) April 8, 2026
Every point pushes them closer amidst a very challenging end-of-the-season schedule for the Bruins, but there was also very clearly some frustration with four straight losses on a road trip this close to the end of the season.
“It’s a good point for us, but we didn’t get a win on the road trip. So it’s obviously frustrating,” said Pastrnak. “It’s a tough road trip, but at the end of the day you have to look at as a big point in the standings. We go home and we’re still in an amazing spot that nobody thought about for us [when the season started], and we have to recognize it. But these were tough losses back-to-back in overtime.”
And there were other little victories like getting Geekie untracked ahead of a final stretch where they need all their players firing on all cylinders.
That’s the challenging situation the Bruins find themselves in right now. The ultimate goal for this season of pushing back into the playoffs is right there for them on the doorstep, but it’s become an agonizing process that’s one last little bit of adversity before they can achieve the goal right in front of them.