TAMPA – Conor Geekie learned quickly during Lightning training camp. He’s only a few weeks into his first preseason in Tampa and has already grasped what it means to play like a Bolt.

He’s a promising prospect, a former 11th draft pick with size and skill whose high ceiling enticed the Lightning to trade defenseman Mikhail Sergachev to Utah. But growing up in small-town Manitoba as the youngest of three hyper-competitive brothers, Geekie’s upside-down, tenacious game was even more impressive.

From day one, Geekie was determined to make it difficult for the Lightning to send him to AHL Syracuse and not keep him on the NHL roster.

And Geekie earned tremendous praise from his teammates when he took on the role of enforcer and got the better of Panthers prospect Josh Davies shortly after Davies hit Lightning captain Victor Hedman in the second half of Wednesday’s preseason overtime loss at Amalie Arena equalized with a shot on open ice.

The league saw things very differently and suspended Geekie for a preseason game on Thursday in violation of Rule 70.2 – leaving the bench on a legal line to instigate an altercation. The penalty could derail Geekie’s goal of making the opening night roster.

Hedman, the Lightning’s newly named captain, praised Geekie for immediately fitting into the team’s entrenched culture of protecting its members. Players fight for each other and put their bodies on the line, a key component to the Lightning’s strong postseason runs.

“He’s impressed me throughout camp with the way he plays the game,” Hedman said Thursday after practice. “He chases pucks, he’s really good defensively and has a lot of skill. When you’re a little kid you try to make an impression and he definitely did that. And even if… (the fight) hadn’t happened, I would still be very impressed with what he’s done so far in camp.

“The fact that he did that was special and I’m pretty sure he would have done the same thing if it wasn’t just me that got hit, but anyone else that got hit as well. So super, super proud of the way the boys stand up for each other. That speaks volumes for the type of team we have.”

Geekie is expected to attend the Lightning’s preseason game at Carolina on Friday; They finish the exhibition schedule with a postponed home game on Monday against Nashville. But it’s tough for prospects to miss every opportunity to make an impression on the organization’s executives while roster cuts loom.

In making the decision to suspend Geekie, the league determined that he skated directly to Davies instead of moving toward the play or the direction of the puck. He initially checked Davies at the halfway line, and when Davies failed to intervene, Geekie dropped his stick and gloves and chased Davies to the right circle, where he forced Davies into a challenge.

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Before making his move, Geekie watched as the league’s reigning scorer, right wing Nikita Kucherov, brought down Davies after scoring against Hedman.

Kucherov received a roughing penalty, and Florida took advantage of Zac Dalpe’s power play goal to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead. But when the second line was called to the ice by Anthony Cirelli about two and a half minutes later, Geekie, who was centering the fourth line, instead jumped over the boards to settle a loose matter with Davies.

“I looked back and his leg was over the boards, I kind of assumed what he was going to do,” second-string left wing Brandon Hagel said Wednesday. “So I just left it to him.”

Geekie immediately found Davies, checked him out, then dropped his gloves and landed at least five hard right hand punches before knocking Davies to the ground.

“It’s one of those things, it doesn’t matter if it’s Heddy or whoever,” Geekie said. “I think anyone who gets hit like this needs to come forward. And I thought that I could be that guy. It worked, but anyone could do it. I’m sure a lot of people thought the same thing as me.”

Geekie received a two-minute cross-checking minor, a two-minute incitement minor, a five-minute fighting major and a 10-minute misconduct penalty, as well as endless recognition from his new teammates.

“It just gains so much respect and just shows that he understands the culture in that locker room,” Hagel said. “And as a young man, everyone has to make a name for themselves in one way or another to get noticed. … Everyone had to go through that as a young man – to gain the trust of their elders, I guess – but yeah, I think it’s an incredible job of him.”

Lightning coach Jon Cooper couldn’t miss the moment either.

“First, Geekie is new to the organization. So it’s not like he’s been around these guys a lot,” Cooper said. “He worked through training camp. But just seeing that come out of him – again, in a game that, in the grand scheme of things, doesn’t really mean anything in the standings – but it meant something to the guys and it meant something to him. And that goes for miles in the locker room.”

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