There have been some surprises this season for the Boston Bruins. At the top of that list is former Toronto Maple Leafs forward Alex Steeves. Signed as a free agent over the summer, Steeves began the season in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Providence Bruins. As injuries began to pile up, he got the call to Boston and has taken full advantage of it.
In Sunday night's 6-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild, Boston trailed 5-0 in the third period when Steeves continued his scoring heater with the Bruins' first goal, his seventh of the season and fourth in six games.
“I think just trying to get pucks behind them and forecheck and get pucks off the wall to the net – that was a good shift,” Steeves said. “I think our approach as a line was solid and we wanted to do it the right way, and got rewarded for it.”
The Bruins are going to need Steeves to continue producing over the next five games ahead of the Christmas break, with injuries mounting up for the Black and Gold.
Dean Letourneau's trunaround
Dean Letourneau's freshman season at Boston College after being taken in the first round of the 2024 Entry Draft by the Bruins was a frustrating one. He finished with just three assists, but he has come back and is having a big turnaround season. He has nine goals and eight assists and is second on BC in scoring. Why the change?
“Coming off a big summer of training definitely helped me,” said Letourneau. “Just being at home and then coming down to Boston. Training over the summer, not taking any time off, allows you to work on your craft a little bit, gets you in the flow. Once I got the first goal, it kind of helped the ball get rolling.”
If Letourneau can continue to improve, he'll quickly move up the ranks of Bruins prospects.
NHL News & Notes
- The news that the Chicago Blackhawks were fearing became reality with Connor Bedard. They placed him on injured reserve, and he'll be reevaluated after the New Year. He was injured in Friday night's loss to the St. Louis Blues on the game's final faceoff.
- You can make all the jokes you want about Tyler Seguin's healthy scratch when he was with the Bruins after missing a team breakfast. However, this. year, there are more and more bizarre scratches, and that continued on Monday night. Mika Zibanejad was scratched by New York Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan against the Anaheim Ducks for missing a team meeting.