(Photo Credit: Sergei Belski / Imagn Images)

By: Chad Jones | Follow me on Twitter/X @ShutUpChadJones

On Sunday afternoon at TD Garden, the Bruins and Panthers traded blows in an intense, spirited battle. Multiple fights, game misconducts, 126 combined penalty minutes, and constant chaos permeated throughout this contest. Boston walked away with a hard-fought, well-earned two points in a 4-1 victory.

The Bruins improved to 13-4-1. Boston finds themselves atop the Atlantic Division with their 27 banked points. Amidst the raucous environment, Morgan Geekie continued his impressive goal-scoring barrage as the forward tallied his fifth goal of the season and his fourth straight game with a score.

While it took Geekie until recently to find his shot, he has still been productive early in the season. His playmaking and passing ability have been dialed in, as Geekie has corralled nine assists in Bostonā€™s first 18 games.

But after scoring 33 and 39 goals, respectively, in the past two campaigns, it was only a matter of time until Geekie returned to finding the back of the net with more regularity. And his rocket of a one-timer was on full display Sunday afternoon.

Boston was looking to add to their 2-0 lead late in the first period. Skating five-on-three, the Bruins kept the puck alive in their offensive zone. David Pastrnak corralled the puck between the faceoff circles before sliding a feed over to Geekie.

Geekie had slid to the edge of the left circle to deepen and improve his shooting angle. The slide difference allowed better access to the cage and away from potential shot blockers. In a fluid motion, Geekie blasted a rocket of a one-timer past Jacob Markstrom. The power play lamp-lighter gave Boston a 3-0 lead, and the Black and Gold never looked back.

Over the past three seasons, Geekie has shown his shot can be heavy and accurate. The quickness with which he can release the puck, standing flat-footed or on the rush, makes him an elite offensive weapon. But he has proven to be quite the streaky scorer. And this season has been no different.

In Geekieā€™s first 14 games of the season, he recorded one goal. He has since scored a goal in four straight contests. The sample size is big enough now to tell us what kind of player Geekie is. He can ignite an offense for many games in a row with an elite goal-scoring finish but will also endure significant stretches where he is not finding the back of the net.

This is less of a criticism and more of an observation of his skillset. Over the course of an 84-game season, all players will go through hot and cold offensive stretches. Geekieā€™s peaks and valleys are just more extreme than most.

And the Bruins will sign up for that trade-off. Geekie has shown an uncanny ability to pull off long stretches of offensive excellence. This season, when he was not finding the back of the net consistently, his playmaking stood out.

Plenty of data shows Geekie is both a proven NHL goalscorer, but he tends to produce these tallies in bunches. But when Geekie gets on a heater, as he is currently on, he is as gifted a shooter as anyone in the NHL.