The Boston Bruins’ road trip wraps up on Wednesday evening inside UBS Arena against the New York Islanders.
The Bruins have lost four of their last six games, going 2-4-0 amidst a string of tight losses. Goal scoring has become an issue again, only scoring seven goals over their last four games.
Of those goals, three came in a loss to the Anaheim Ducks, leaving just four goals in the three other games, one of which was a 3-on-3 overtime winner.
Of those seven goals, Morgan Geekie scored five of them. In California, the Bruins scored six goals. Geekie scored five of them.
So, without Geekie, the Bruins have been outscored 11-2 in their last four games. It hasn’t mattered which line or who plays with, Geekie keeps on scoring.
It’s also not a surprise that scoring’s hurting the Bruins, with Elias Lindholm just returning from injury in San Jose, while Viktor Arvidsson, Casey Mittelstadt, and Charlie McAvoy all remain injured.
So, the question of what lineup to roll out lingered throughout California for the Bruins and Head Coach Marco Sturm, and now continues into New York.
This morning at practice, he shook up three forward lines, as reported by Bruins Team Reporter Belle Fraser. Here’s how the full lineup looked:
Forwards:
Matej Blümel – Pavel Zacha – David Pastrnak
Marat Khusnutdinov – Elias Lindholm – Morgan Geekie
Tanner Jeannot – Fraser Minten – Mark Kastelic
Alex Steeves – Sean Kuraly – Mikey Eyssimont
Defense & Goalies:
Nikita Zadorov – Jonathan Aspirot
Hampus Lindholm – Henri Jokiharju
Mason Lohrei – Andrew Peeke
Jeremy Swayman & Joonas Korpisalo
Whether this lineup yields the goals it seeks remains to be seen. However, bringing the Czechs together when they’ve shown some chemistry is good. Having Geekie play with two players he’s played with all year is also beneficial, especially when you can separate him from David Pastrnak, giving two lines a lethal scoring threat.
As for the bottom six, the third line remains untouched, while the fourth line sees Alex Steeves added in. Steeves’ play style translates perfectly to the bottom six while adding more potential scoring punch.
