Geekie Hat Trick Not Enough: Breaking Apart Bruins OT Loss to Carolina

Q: Why did the Bruins lose to Carolina in overtime despite scoring five goals?

The Bruins lost because Carolina outscored them 6-5 and Jaccob Slavin scored the overtime winner. Boston built leads and came back late, but a rough second period and the final goal in overtime decided it. Joonas Korpisalo was strong in relief, but it was not enough to erase the earlier damage.

Q: Who were the Bruins’ top performers in the game against the Hurricanes?

Morgan Geekie led the Bruins with a hat trick, Pavel Zacha scored his 30th goal of the season, and Hampus Lindholm added his first goal since January. David Pastrnak also had an assist-heavy night and helped set up Geekie’s first two goals. Despite those performances, Boston still came away with an overtime loss.

Geekie Hat Trick Not Enough: Breaking Apart Bruins OT Loss to Carolina

James Guillory-Imagn Images

The Boston Bruins picked up another crucial point, but overtime losses continue to follow them as the season nears its end.

The Bruins (43-26-10) jumped to a lead, fell behind, clawed back in the third period, but lost 6-5 in overtime to the Carolina Hurricanes (50-22-6) on Tuesday night at the Lenovo Center. Morgan Geekie (37) scored a hat trick, Pavel Zacha (30) hit 30 for the first time in his career, and Hampus Lindholm (5) scored his first goal since January.

Geekie’s three-goal showing comes after having none in the last 17 games.

“It’s always nice, but on days like today, it doesn’t really mean anything, right?” Geekie said about getting on the scoresheet. “Sure, for like, mentally I guess, yeah. It feels like you come in here, it doesn’t matter if you score six goals, you know. It’s just one of those things that, losses like that are tough to swallow, for sure.”

It was Geekie’s second game on a line with David Pastrnak and Elias Lindholm, who both assisted his first goal. Pastrnak had another one and directly set up Geekie for his first two goals.

“Oh, 100%. I look for him all the time, obviously. No secret, right?” Pastrnak said after the game. “We have good chemistry. We play together well. He reads off me really well. I need him to score goals. He’s an important teammate for me and linemate.”

Pastrnak has assists on 19 of Geekie’s 37 goals. All but one are primary assists.

Geekie’s first two goals came in the first period, along with Hampus Lindholm’s, which opened the scoring. The Bruins carried a 3-2 lead into the first intermission, but it quickly unraveled.

The Hurricanes scored three goals in 3:16 early in the second period, and Jeremy Swayman was pulled. He made 18 saves on the first 23 shots.

“I thought [there were] a couple bad bounces there for [Swayman]. I feel like it just wasn’t his night,” Marco Sturm said after the game. “I needed to spark something. Second period was just, overall, we didn’t protect him. We didn’t protect ourselves, basically. And I just wanted to change something.”

Joonas Korpisalo entered the game and stopped 16 of 17 in relief, including all 12 in the third period.

“Korpi made some crazy, you know, and again, it’s double frustrating not to get the win for him,” Pastrnak said. “That’s two nights. Obviously, my fault last game and today again. Tough, because he deserved better than the outcome.”

Morgan Geekie scored late in the second period to hit the hat trick, and Pavel Zacha tied the game with 7:25 to play in regulation with his 30th goal of the season. The goal marks Zacha’s first 30-goal season in the NHL.

But Jaccob Slavin won the game in overtime, recording the only shot that beat Korpisalo. It was his first goal of the season.

Eight of the last 11 Bruins’ road games have gone to overtime, dating back to March 8. They have lost five of them, including the last two.

The Bruins finish their four-game road trip without a win, going 0-2-2, a reminder of their road struggles earlier in the season. However, they scored more goals on Tuesday (5) than they did in the rest of the trip (3).

“Well, I feel like the legs was there, energy was there. We were a little bit slower, but energy was there,” Pastrnak added. “I mean, it’s tough, tough road trip. Obviously, I’m very frustrated. So, just going to have to look at it at the end of the day. It’s a big point in the standings. You know, we can go home. We are still in the spot, amazing spot that nobody thought about us, and you know, we have to recognize that also. It’s just tough losses in overtime back-to-back.”

Although they picked up two of eight points on the road trip, the Bruins’ playoff odds are up to 98.9%, per MoneyPuck. They have three games remaining, and the magic number is two, according to Hockey Magic Numbers.

The Bruins comfortably sit in the first wild card and trail the Canadiens, Sabres, and Lightning by six points. They have a four-point lead on the Ottawa Senators.

The Bruins are off until Saturday afternoon, when they take on the Atlantic Division-leading Tampa Bay Lightning (48-24-6). That is the first of a back-to-back; they will fly to Ohio on Saturday night for a Sunday evening matchup with the Columbus Blue Jackets (39-27-12).