Boston Bruins
“Call-ups are fighting tooth and nail, and I feel like I’ve been fighting tooth and nail for four years to be here.”
Alex Steeves’ belief in himself never wavered, even if that confidence wasn’t reflected on the scoresheet.
“I’ve always, as a player, told myself that if you are getting the chances, it’s going to come,” Steeves said on Long Island last week.
The 25-year-old forward — a Minnesota-born product who spent part of his childhood in New Hampshire — had accomplished plenty both in the collegiate ranks and in the AHL prior to this season.
But a legitimate shot at hockey’s highest level eluded Steeves after turning pro with Toronto in March 2021.
When Steeves put pen to paper on a one-year, $850,000 contract with Boston in July, he held court as the franchise leader in both goals (105) and points (216) for the Maple Leafs’ AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies.
For those efforts, he logged just 14 career games with the Maple Leafs spread across four seasons — scoring one goal and three points over that stretch.
Amid those several stalled treks to the NHL, Steeves remained resolute. His opportunity was coming.
And on a Bruins team in desperate need of legitimate scoring punch, Steeves has found a spot to thrive.
“When he didn’t like to go down [to Providence], I remember he said’, I will be back and I’m going to do everything I can to show [you],’” Marco Sturm said. “That’s what I like. And the way he said it, I believe that. I knew his time would come.”
An early-season call-up amid a string of injuries, Steeves has cemented himself as one of Sturm’s most reliable forwards in short order. Be it as a fourth-line sparkplug or top-six scorer, Steeves has settled into a groove as of late — scoring five goals and six points in his last five games.
He continued his scoring salvo on Thursday night against the St. Louis Blues — posting two first-period points as part of a 5-1 victory at TD Garden.
A top line of Steeves, Morgan Geekie, and Elias Lindholm carved up the Blues’ defensive structure throughout the night, with the trio combining for two goals and eight total points in the victory.
“Call-ups are fighting tooth and nail, and I feel like I’ve been fighting tooth and nail for four years to be here,” Steeves said. “And to be on a line with the top goalscorer in the NHL [in Geekie] and a world-class, two-way center like Lindy is really special for me, and I want to make good on it.”
Steeves’ emergence as a scoring winger has come at a critical time for the Bruins, especially with David Pastrnak still working his way back from a nagging lower-body injury.
After lighting the lamp twice in a critical road win over the Islanders last week, Steeves has scored another three goals in four games since Pastrnak has been on the shelf — often skating in a top-six spot on Sturm’s shorthanded depth chart.
“That’s the nice part about it, is he can play any line, he can play any side,” Sturm said of Steeves. “Maybe not a centerman, but overall, I can use him. And I think that’s what coaches really like and that’s what I like about him.
“I brought him up from the minors, and I put him in more like a checking rule and a fourth-liner, and now look at him. So good for him. He’s a guy I trust. … It’s tough to get him out of the lineup, I can tell you that.”
It was Steeves’ who jumpstarted Boston’s scoring surge against Jim Montgomery, Jordan Binnington, and the Blues on Thursday.
While Geekie has doled out most of his damage as a goal scorer this year, he played the role of distributor on Steeves’ tally — dishing a cross-slot feed that his linemate one-timed into twine for his sixth goal of the season.
Steeves rewarded the favor later in the period.
Seconds before Geekie snapped home his 21st goal of the season, it was a furious forechecking effort from Steeves that started the sequence — tenderizing both Philip Broberg and Colton Parayko on the end boards and knocking the puck loose.
That skittering puck was gathered by Lindholm and fed into the slot for Geekie, who knocked it home to give Boston a 2-0 lead at the time.
Steeves finished with a game-high six hits in the victory.
“I don’t think I’m an NHL player when I’m not playing physically,” Steeves said. “So I want to be physical every night. And good things usually happen when I do that.”
While Geekie’s shot and Lindholm’s two-way game are well-established at this point, Steeves’ motor and physicality have helped generate Grade-A chances with regularity during their shifts.
In the 42:54 of 5-on-5 ice time that the Steeves-Lindholm-Geekie line has logged so far this season, the Bruins are outscoring opponents, 4-2.
The Bruins are still treading water as they await the return of both Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy.
But amid a season where injuries have plagued Boston’s roster, the Bruins have found no shortage of unsung contributors who are keeping this team afloat — and are poised to pull on the rope even further once more bodies return to the ice.
“Obviously, it’s tough when you’re losing guys the way we seem to have lost them, but I think that’s just kind of where the league’s at right now with the schedule and everything like that,” Geekie said. “But, I mean, for [Victor Soderstrom] to step in tonight and get an assist and play well.
” And guys that have been doing it all year — [Jonathan Aspirot] coming up, and Steever. All these guys mean a ton to us. And to be able to step in to make a difference like they all do, is super important.”
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