We’ve fallen behind in our first goal series, and with the Lightning enjoying a couple of days off, we decided to rectify that situation by posting a couple of the newest Bolts to record their first NHL goals. It’s been a rather busy year for first NHL goals as three members of the organization found the back of the net for the first time. First up – Conor Geekie.
It took eight games for the Lightning’s top prospect to change the zero to a one in the goals scored column, but the play that produced it should become a staple in his bag of tricks. Geekie had been knocking on the door for a few games before he scored, generating 6 shot attempts and 4 scoring chances against Minnesota on October 24th. That brought his total to 5 shots on goal on 14 shot attempts and a respectable 0.83 iXG.
The next contest, a home game against Washington would be the one where he finally got to hear his name called by Paul Porter following a goal.
The shot itself was really nice. In a confined space he was able to snap off a hard, accurate wrist shot that beat Charlie Lindgren just over the pad and under the blocker. Geekie’s wrist shot has played well in the NHL so far and his ability to snap it off with some pace has been better than anticipated.
While the goal itself was really nice, it was the play that led to it, that shows the skillset that should make him a top-six forward in this league. It started with a simple play behind the net, but Geekie skated around the screen by Martin Fehervary and forced Lindgren to play the puck a little quicker than the goaltender wanted to.
That allowed Brandon Hagel to jump the outlet pass and play it back to Geekie. The rookie does lose it to a stick check from Hendrix Lapierre, but with Washington scrambling a bit, Lapierre doesn’t have a quick outlet option and Hagel stole the puck back. Things were a little crowded in the left circle after Hagel’s pass bounced off a skate to Anthony Cirelli. Hockey is all about capitalizing on the lucky bounces.
Cirelli looked up and knew that Geekie was primed for the shot and had the better angle at the net, so he tapped it over to the rookie, who didn’t need a big wind-up for the one-timer. With a clear lane to the net, he torqued it nice and low on net. The beauty of this shot is that it would have generated a big rebound if it doesn’t beat Lindgren.
The goal is the result of the Lightning taking advantage of doing the right thing. They were quick on the forecheck. They generated a turnover. They didn’t fumble a fortunate bounce and they made sure to get the puck on net. The rookie was a big part of all of those things and was rewarded with his first career NHL goal. Geekie is going to get a lot of goals off of his ability to forecheck and disrupt breakout plays and his first goal is a prime example of how that will happen.
