BOSTON — Alex Steeves scored the opening goal in the Boston Bruins’ 5-2 win over the St. Louis Blues on Thursday. He assisted on Morgan Geekie’s 21st strike, which kept him within one of league leader Nathan MacKinnon. Steeves landed a game-high six hits. He played 16:06, second-most among team forwards after Geekie.

David Pastrnak, the player Steeves has been replacing on the Bruins’ No. 1 line next to Geekie and Elias Lindholm, was not missed.

“I feel like I’ve been fighting tooth and nail for four years to be here,” said Steeves, who has played a career-high 13 NHL games this season. “To be on a line with the top goal scorer in the NHL and a world-class two-way center like Lindy is really special for me. I want to make good on it.”

Pastrnak watched from the TD Garden press box on Thursday. He has missed the last four games. He will not play on Saturday against the New Jersey Devils.

It leaves Steeves, who started the year in Providence, as a top-line lock. He has scored five goals in his last five games. The 25-year-old is getting open and sinking his chances.

“He’s a guy I trust,” Bruins coach Marco Sturm said. “We’ll see. It’s tough to get him out of the lineup, I’ll tell you that.”

5️⃣ GOALS IN 5️⃣ GAMES 👏 pic.twitter.com/SHZsRMgZdK

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) December 5, 2025

Steeves’ specialty is putting pucks in nets. He potted 36 in 59 AHL games last year for the Toronto Marlies. He has a heavy shot that arrives on goalies quickly. His one-timer is hard and true, as Jordan Binnington learned in the first period.

“I love goal scoring,” Steeves said with a smile. “It’s one of the best feelings in the world for me.”

Until this year, Steeves did not have many chances to do his goal-scoring thing up top. He had just one goal in seven games for the Toronto Maple Leafs last year. Before that, Steeves had never scored in the NHL.

But part of what helped Steeves get back to Boston and stick has been his insistence on physicality. He is almost as happy labeling opponents on the forecheck as he is when he’s scoring goals. It was his down-low pinballing, first on Dalibor Dvorsky and then on Philip Broberg, that popped the puck loose and led to Geekie’s goal.

“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,” Steeves said. “I had lots of fun being a bowling ball in the corner there. But nothing beats scoring a goal.”

Steeves’ roughneck style helped him kick down Sturm’s door initially. On Nov. 8, when he was recalled from Providence, Steeves started as a bottom-six wing and penalty killer. His eagerness to bang bodies, bring his team energy and do the dirty work convinced Sturm that he could be trusted in tight situations.

Steeves’ puck play then kicked in. But the hitting came first.

“I wasn’t an overly physical player coming out of the USHL,” Steeves said. “I wasn’t even this physical in college. But when I added that layer to my game, it just gave me a ‘B’ game when I wasn’t playing as skilled or the skill wasn’t sharp on any given night.”

In camp, the Bruins hoped Steeves would push to be a goal-scoring wing. It didn’t happen. Pucks did not go in at the rate he expected. He paid for it with an AHL assignment.

He wasn’t happy.

“I felt crappy not making the team out of camp,” Steeves said. “Woe is me, whatever you want to call it, that the chances didn’t fall. Why didn’t they fall? I know I got to the spots. It just didn’t happen. Maybe if I had potted a couple, it would (have) changed things. Maybe it didn’t. But it didn’t hurt my confidence. I know I can score goals.”

When he got the news he’d be going down, Steeves informed Sturm he would return at some point. Sturm has heard this before.

But the manner in which Steeves delivered his message caught Sturm’s attention. He said it with more conviction than others.

“I remember he said, ‘I will be back. I’m going to do everything I can to show you,’” Sturm recalled. “And that’s what I like. The way he said it, I believed him.”

It remains to be seen when Pastrnak will return. The right wing has yet to resume skating.

Pastrnak will return to his first-line spot when he’s ready to play. Anybody with 402 goals to his name does not play lower in the lineup.

But even if this displaces Steeves, Sturm will find somewhere to play the left-shot forward. He is averaging 1:11 of ice time on the penalty kill per game. He is seeing 0:41 per appearance on the No. 2 power-play unit. He has 48 hits, sixth-most on the team.

“He can play any line,” Sturm said. “He can play any side. Maybe not centerman. But I can use him. That’s what coaches really like. That’s what I like about him.”