The Boston Bruins have had no shortage of offense to start the season, but their top goal scorer last season is still on the hunt for his scoring touch.
Morgan Geekie, who led the Bruins with 39 goals last season, has just one through the first 11 games this year. The Bruins haven’t struggled to find the net, though.
Their 3.82 goals per game rank fourth in the league, and of the 17 Bruins with a goal this season, seven have three or more.
Bruins lines tonight: projected lineup and starting goalie →
Go Ad-Free
“Maybe from the outside looking in, the goal totals are not where they should be, but at the end of the day, we’re 7-2-1 (now 8-2-1), and there’s not much more you can ask for than starting that well,” Geekie said on Thursday. “For me, there’s obviously a lot of room for improvement, but it’s a team game at the end of the day.
I’m just going to try and do everything I can to try to find a way to put the puck in the back of the net.”
Geekie scored 72 goals over the last two seasons, tied for the team lead with David Pastrnak. In that span, he took 331 shots and converted at a 21.8% rate.
That efficiency has been missing so far this season. Geekie has one goal on 12 shots, an 8.3% shooting percentage, but his shots per game have dipped from 2.09 over the previous two seasons to just 1.09 this season.
Geekie isn’t particularly fond of the scoring chances he’s had so far this season, either.
“Not great, to be honest. I definitely had a few opportunities, but can definitely try to create more or kinda construct them from turnovers and things like that,” Geekie said of his chances this season.
“It seems lately I’ve been on the side of distributing more, but I definitely want to try to find myself more in those situations to get those shots and opportunities.”
Geekie has found ways to produce even in a scoring slump. His seven assists are the second-most on the Bruins, with three coming on the power play.
The 28-year-old has a selective approach to his shot. Over the last two seasons, that approach has paid off.
Among NHL skaters with more than 100 shots on goal over the last two seasons, Geekie’s 21.8% shooting percentage ranked second in the league, only behind Anthony Mantha (22.2%).
“I think a lot of people see opportunities where it looks like a shot is the best option. But I think as a fan or somebody that’s not in the situation that I am, or anybody that has the chance, lots of times when you take a shot that’s not high quality, it kind of just ruins the rest of the opportunity.
You want a shot that normally leads to another quality chance. And for me, I’ve never been a big quantity guy.”
“I’ve always thought that a quality shot is better than a quantity shot. And I think that’s maybe in some cases the wrong mentality, but just kind of how I’ve always played.
So, yeah, it’s always tough to me when you’re just taking shots for no reason with, you know, a low chance to go in. But it’s one of those things where, you know, maybe you have to change your mentality a little bit when you don’t see pucks go in.”
Geekie was not always the prolific goal scorer he has become over the last two seasons. Before posting back-to-back 30-goal campaigns, his career high was 17, which also came in Boston.
Before that, he had never scored more than 10 in a single season, having scored 16 goals in 142 games with the Seattle Kraken.
“It’s huge. For me, you know, I was at one point a guy that didn’t really score at all, so it’s always a privilege to score in this league, and I understand how hard it is.
So for me, it’s just kind of coming to the rink and trying to find other ways to contribute.
I just try not to put too much thought into it, just try to continue to get back to my game and play well on both sides of the puck.”
Also Read:Bruins Postgame: DiPietro’s First Shutout Means So Much More
FOLLOW @JACKSTUDLEY13 ON 𝕏 | FOLLOW @BOSHockeyNow ON 𝕏
