Steeves played a little more than 12 minutes in a 3-2 shootout loss to Philadelphia, including some time on the penalty kill. He played on the fourth line with Sean Kuraly at center and Tanner Jeannot on the left side. The trio combined for 10 hits, with Steeves landing four.
When Steeves, who spent part of his youth in New Hampshire, hit free agency in July, he fielded myriad offers to continue his career — including a chance to stay in Toronto, which had given him brief NHL looks in each of the last four seasons — but settled on Boston, which offered a one-way deal ($850,000 salary cap hit), and just as important, the opportunity to compete for a spot on a Bruins team that had undergone a significant makeover from previous seasons.
For the first time in recent memory, there were multiple job openings on the spoked-B roster.
“That’s a big reason why I came here, to be honest. At the end of the day, I want to play, and I want to get games under my belt,” Steeves said. “After four years pro, I feel like I’ve had a really good four years, and I wouldn’t trade the last four years for anything, but I’m also 25 and still young, but I want to start getting games under my belt and the opportunity to come here and potentially compete to steal a job and get those games and help build back an organization that’s as great as this one, was definitely appealing.”
Though he has those New Hampshire roots, he didn’t grow up rooting for the Bruins.
“I was kind of a very impressionable young kid, and my parents were Canadian, and I was actually born in Minnesota, so I was a bit of a Wild fan,” Steeves said. “And then when Winnipeg got their team back, my dad’s from Winnipeg, so I kind of hopped on that wagon with him. It wasn’t really a disdain for the Bruins or anything like that, it was just me being a young kid who wanted to be different than my peers and playing the Canadian card for my parents, trying to be cool.”
Steeves, who played three seasons at Notre Dame (Bruins teammate Andrew Peeke was his captain in South Bend for a year), has always been a point collector and has shown improvement in his 200-foot game.
“I think I’m a straight-line, physical goal scorer. I think offensively I definitely have the aptitude to make plays and find those soft areas for myself and my teammates and then away from the puck when I don’t have it, I want to get the puck back,” said Steeves, who played with Fraser Minten with the Marlies. “So, I’m working to be a disruptive force out there. Forechecking is a big part of my game. So just keeping things simple but really effective.”
Marco Sturm sees Steeves as a winger who can fit in up and down the lineup.
“I think he’s a power forward. He put up a lot of numbers, good numbers in the minors, he can definitely score. He had some chances, especially Game 1 [against the Capitals]; I think he had a few chances in New York [in Game 2] to score some goals. He didn’t, and that’s OK, too,” said the coach. “But he’s an interesting player because I think he can play that grinding game, too, and that’s one of the reasons why I put him there [Monday night]. Third line, fourth line, whatever you want to call it, but more on the right side and have a little bit more of that grinding game because I think he can do that, too.”
Observations from the game:
⋅ Jeremy Swayman had a rough re-entry, giving up a pair of goals that he normally would handle easily. On the first, the Bruins goalie fumbled the puck behind the net, allowing Tyson Foerster to steal and feed Noah Cates for an easy strike.
“Yeah, that’s just something I want to work on — my puck handling, and I got too cute,” said Swayman, who gave up another to Rodrigo Abols on a shot from the dot that went under his blocker.
“Perfect shot, you tip your cap,” said Swayman, who was beaten in the shootout by Bobby Brink.
⋅ Kuraly scored Boston’s first goal, tipping in a net-front feed from David Pastrnak, who had just been sprung from the penalty box.
“I think if you got half a brain, you know he’s dangerous, so it doesn’t take you long to learn that,” Kuraly said about charging to the net when Pastrnak had the puck.
⋅ Morgan Geekie tied it in the third when he broke in alone off a nice feed from Elias Lindholm and banked one off Flyers goalie Dan Vladar’s glove.
⋅ In addition to last season’s alternate captains Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy, defenseman Hampus Lindholm wore the “A.”
⋅ Song of the night: “Get into the Groove” by Madonna.
Jim McBride can be reached at james.mcbride@globe.com. Follow him @globejimmcbride.
