BOSTON — No, Alex Steeves is not going to pull a Wally Pipp on David Pastrnak. When the Bruins’ best player is once again healthy, he’ll slot right back into his spot as the right wing on the first line, no questions asked.
But what Steeves is doing during Pastrnak’s absence has almost certainly earned him a permanent spot in the Boston lineup.
“It’s been fun,” said the 25-year-old Steeves, who scored his fifth goal in the last five games and added an assist while skating on Boston’s top line in a 5-2 beatdown of the Blues Thursday at TD Garden.
Undrafted and mired in the Maple Leafs’ system, where he played just 13 games for the Buds over the last four seasons, Steeves signed with the Bruins as a free agent on July 1. Sent down to AHL Providence at the end of training camp, he’s been a revelation since being recalled to Boston.
A left shot center/winger, he’s made the most of his changes with Pastrnak out, ascending from fourth liner to the top trio with Morgan Geekie and center Elias Lindholm. He’s stuck there because of both his physicality and his scoring.
“It’s nice playing with world class players,” Steeves said following the victory over St. Louis. “To be honest it’s a little bit of learning, but also trusting my abilities and having the confidence to go to the right areas.”
Steeves scored twice in a road victory over the Islanders a week ago Wednesday, then added two more in this past Saturday’s home victory over Detroit. That made him the first Bruins rookie since Ryan Spooner and the aforementioned Pastrnak (both in 2014-15) to have multiple 2-goal games in the same season.
Going to the net, Steeves was the beneficiary of some terrific O-zone passing by the Bruins in the first period Thursday. Lindholm took an outlet pass just over the blue line, turned and spun a backhand pass to a streaking Geekie coming down his off wing. Drawing the defender in on the 2-on-1, he fired a pass across to Steeves at the right post for the easy one-timer.
The effort that that Steeves put into Geekie’s team-leading 21st goal later in the period was arguably even more impressive. Aggressively forechecking, he took on two Blues behind the net and helped work the puck free, where Lindholm retrieved it and found Geekie alone for a one-timer and a 2-0 lead.
Geekie used an old hockey term of approval for a player who really gets after it —a hound — to describe Steeves.
“I think you saw on my goal, he made a great play behind the net just to separate, and Lindy made a great pass out front,” said Geekie. “It leads to great chances like that … just his ability to recover those pucks and give us a chance to get in good spots.
“He seems to be all over the ice every time you look up.”
Steeves led all players in hits (6) Thursday night and, while he loves scoring, knows what his primarily role is.
“I don’t think I’m an NHL player if I’m not playing physical,” admitted the 6-foot, 199-pounder.
But the alluring of lighting the lamp is very, very strong.
So did he prefer the tally he produced, or the one he helped set up, better on Thursday night?
“It’s just one of the best feelings in the world for me,” Steeves said of knocking the puck home. “But I hope you guys could see how excited I was for Geeks when he scored. For me, I want to be physical and create space for those guys because they’re world class players and they’re going to finish those chances.
“I had lots of fun being a bowling ball in the corner there, but nothing beats scoring a goal,” he added. “I’d be lying if I said otherwise.”
Doing both will keep him in the Boston lineup on a permanent basis. From one of the last cuts in training camp this year to a dynamic young player who is doing more than could be expected on the first line, Steeves has been one of the best stories on the Bruins this season.
“He wasn’t happy to go down (to the minors),” said head coach Marco Sturm, “but I remember he said, ‘I will be back, and I’m going to do everything I can to show you.’ The way he said it, I believed it. I knew his time would come.”
With or without Pastrnak in the lineup, it has.