Morgan Geekie’s two goals lift Bruins over Avalanche, 3-1 – The Boston Globe

Geekie, who has scored the Bruins first goal in three straight, has seven goals in January and 14 in his last 28 games.

The first 20 minutes had the look and feel of two teams still looking to shake off The Sandman’s effects from Friday night. Playing their fourth game of the week and third in four days, the Bruins didn’t have their legs or a willingness to get engaged physically early on.

Nikita Zadorov did his best to wake up his club when the burly Bruins defenseman pinched in and then caved in Colorado’s Sam Malinski in the first few minutes.

Boston’s best chances came via Geekie (screecher that went wide), Max Jones (slot backhander kicked aside by Scott Wedgewood), Andrew Peeke (slapper off a body that ricocheted off the crossbar), and Pastrnak (partial breakaway back scratcher smothered by Wedgewood).

The Avalanche outshot the Bruins, 12-5, in the first but Jeremy Swayman, who returned to the lineup after recovering from a minor upper-body ailment, handled them all.

Nathan MacKinnon, who came to Boston leading the NHL in scoring with 75 points, had Colorado’s best look, but Swayman gloved his hard snapper from the dot midway through.

The eyes opened a little wider to open the second and it took the Avalanche just 90 seconds to take the lead.

Juuso Parssinen zoomed through into the Bruins’ end and dropped a pass to Artturi Lehkonen, who zipped a low wrister under Swayman’s blocker for the 1-0 lead.

After that lamplighter, the clubs went back to their sleepskating ways for the remainder of the second.

It wasn’t just the guys with the sticks that weren’t fully into it. The guys in the stripes were hardly on their games. After bypassing several obvious calls (Jones and Vinni Lettieri both were interfered with), the first penalty was whistled at 18:09 of the second and it was very ticky-tackish.

Pastrnak was sent off for Logan O’Connor, who definitely sold the call.

Jim McBride can be reached at james.mcbride@globe.com. Follow him @globejimmcbride.