“Lightning’s Conor Geekie suspended for one game at a time for preseason.”

Tampa Bay Lightning forward Conor Geekie was suspended for a preseason game Thursday for his role in a fight during a preseason game with the Florida Panthers.

According to NHL Player Safety, Geekie, the 11th pick in the 2022 draft, violated Rule 70.2 on Wednesday when he left the bench for a legal line change “in an attempt to instigate an altercation.”

Geekie, heard earlier in the day, will be ineligible for Friday’s preseason game against the Carolina Hurricanes.

The incident occurred in the second period of the Panthers’ 2-1 overtime win after Florida junior Josh Davies hit Lightning captain Victor Hedman with a shot in open ice. Tampa Bay star Nikita Kucherov retaliated against Davies and received a two-minute penalty.

After the next line break, Geekie attacked Davies and engaged him in a fight. The 20-year-old geekie received 19 penalty minutes in that game: two for cross-checking, two for incitement, five for fighting and a 10-minute misconduct.

“It is important to note that Geekie’s sole goal in this game is to confront Davies,” a Department of Player Safety official said in an explanatory video. “Instead of making any movement at all towards the play or towards the puck, Geekie instead comes straight from the bench to instigate this altercation and then stalks Davies for an extended period of time while forcing Davies into this altercation.”

Geekie, who has yet to make his regular-season NHL debut, told reporters that he is committed to his teammates.

“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 to myself 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.”

The Lightning acquired Geekie from the Utah Hockey Club in a June 29 deal that sent defenseman Mikhail Sergachev to Salt Lake City.

Geekie scored 99 points (43 goals, 56 assists) in 55 games between the Swift Current Broncos and Wenatchee Wild of the WHL during the 2023-24 season.

Field Level Media contributed to this report.