By: Ryan Jainchill | Follow me on Twitter / X @Jainchill_Ryan
It was a milestone frenzy in the Bruins’ 7-2 win over the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night. Morgan Geekie secured a 30-goal season for the first time in his career, David Pastrnak hit the century mark for the third straight season, rookies Michael Callahan and Fabian Lysell found the scoresheet for the first time in their NHL careers and newcomer Fraser Minten scored his first goal in a Bruins sweater.
Geekie has surpassed all his career highs in his second season in Boston. After setting a previous high of 9-19-28 in his final season with the Seattle Kraken in 2022-23, the 26-year-old re-upped all those numbers with an impressive 17-22-39 line in his first season with the Bruins. Even after an 11-point increase year-to-year, the Straithclair, Manitoba, native has soared to new heights this season and currently has a line of 30-22-51. His 30th goal of the season makes him the first Bruins’ free agent signing to hit that mark since Jarome Iginla in 2013-14.
On Geekie’s 30th, Pastrnak would hit the 100-point mark for the third straight season, becoming the third Bruin in the franchise’s century-long existence to accomplish this feat, joining legends Bobby Orr (1969-1975) and Phil Esposito (1970-1974). His goal and two assists in the victory gave him a 41-59-100 line on the season and, before Jakub Lauko’s goal in the second, he had factored in on 13 straight goals, tying him for the third-longest in league history.
It was not just the top line contributing to the Bruins’ victory tonight. A pair of rookies would get on the scoresheet for the first time, with Callahan scoring his first NHL goal in the first period. With under a minute left in the period, Parker Wotherspoon found an open Callahan above the left circle, who whistled a shot through traffic and over the blocker of Jacob Markstrom. This also marks the Franklin, Massachusetts, native’s first NHL point in his 15th career game.
In the ninth NHL game of his young career, Lysell found his name on the scoresheet, tallying an assist on Casey Mittelstadt’s 15th goal of the season. The shifty Swedish forward was all around the puck for 60 minutes and was rewarded for it. After dishing the puck off to Mittelstadt on the half wall, the 22-year-old saw his teammate’s long-range wrister find its way past Markstrom to get on the scoresheet. With the assist, Lysell became the first Bruins 2021 draft pick to record their first NHL point.
Minten got on the board in the third period, marking another youngster who found the score sheet for the first time in his Bruins career tonight. After coming over in the Brandon Carlo trade from Toronto at the trade deadline, Minten has now played in three games for the team and nabbed his first as a Bruin on a turn-around wrist shot to make it 6-2. While scoring his first two NHL goals with the Maple Leafs earlier this season, Minten now has 3-2-5 in 17 games and has impressed in his limited sample size with the Bruins.
A historic night for many Bruins players led the team to its first seven-goal output of the season, with seven different players finding the back of the net. Despite being eliminated from playoff contention and finding themselves towards the bottom of the league’s standings, a team win where everyone is involved goes a long way toward building for next season and allowing the prospects to find their games.
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