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Seidenberg Return Doesn't Save Day, But Gives Bruins Lineup Options for Future

BOSTON (CBS) -- He swooped in to save the day Thursday for the Bruins.

Alas, defenseman Dennis Seidenberg wasn't able to do a Mighty Mouse impression and instead was part of yet another Bruins home loss – this time 3-2 to the Colorado Avalanche at TD Garden.

The Bruins are now 1-5-1 on home ice and 7-7-1 overall. They've lost three of their past four.

Seidenberg, though, looked in midseason form in his season debut after missing 14 games because of preseason back surgery. It took about 7:30 before he took his first hit, a hard shot from behind by Avalanche forward Cody McLeod in the corner of the Boston zone. Over the course of the night, Seidenberg threw six hits of his own and blocked two shots in 15:34 of ice time.

He hadn't played a game since last April.

"It felt all right," he said. "Obviously there's more work to be done but I think it was a good first step and there's room to get better for sure."

Instead of Seidenberg helping the Bruins improve and build off their win against the New York Islanders on Sunday, the Bruins showed Seidenberg the inconsistency he missed while out of the lineup rehabbing his back. They're now 5-5-0 when they score first and they've lost three of four games at home that they held a two-goal lead at any point in the game.

The Bruins have lived up to preseason expectations that they'd be inconsistent and have a middle-of-the-road record while ironing out who could and couldn't play on their back end. They've surprised with their potency on offense, as they've ranked in the top five in scoring almost all season. But the back end has been lackluster. It seems every mistake the defensemen make winds up in the back of the Boston net.

Against the Avalanche, it was Kevan Miller coughing up the puck along the wall in the Bruins' zone and Matt Duchene burying the puck off a feed from Mikhail Grigorenko to break a 2-2 tie early in the third period. We've seen it time and again that one errant pass or battle lost or assignment missed has been the difference between winning and losing. What's somewhat baffling is that even though young defensemen like Colin Miller and Joe Morrow have had their ups and downs, more often than not it's been veterans like Kevan Miller and Adam McQuaid that have suffered a gaffe at an inopportune time.

That's where Seidenberg comes in. He should be a steadying force for the younger defenseman and could take heat off the older guys. For now, he's just worried about himself.

"I mean my role is playing my brand of hockey, which is playing solid defensively and penalty killing and just making a simple play, playing good, playing physical hockey and winning my battles, he said. "And that's what I have to focus on. And whatever else happens it's fine."

Seidenberg might be humble, but his return should mean more consistency from the defense corps. No one expects the 34-year-old coming off back surgery seven weeks ago and knee surgery a year and a half ago to be a savior. But if he can stay healthy and play the sound, physical game he did against the Avalanche he'll be a step up on what Boston has had on defense.

He already helped the penalty kill have just its third game this season without a power-play goal against. His ability to play both the left and right side gives the Bruins more options than when they were forced to cast the right-shooting Kevan Miller on the left side. And with Seidenberg's stay-at-home instincts in the lineup, the Bruins can consider sitting out a McQuaid or Kevan Miller in favor of Trotman or Morrow sometime in the near future.

One has to suspect that coach Claude Julien has only been going with Kevan Miller on a regular basis for fear that the league's worst penalty kill might find some lower-level league to drop into. Or Julien's been playing Miller to balance out his defense pairs with offensive guys and defensive guys, young guys and older guys. Now there's another older, defensive guy around to give Miller a breather.

Nothing short of a trade for a top-four defenseman is going to help the Bruins really challenge for a higher spot in the standings this season. They're more likely looking toward a battle for a lower playoff spot while giving their young guys more seasoning.

Seidenberg showed in his first game back that he could be a benefit with his play. And his presence will aid the Bruins in their pursuit of enough wins to play into late April and enough support for their young defenseman to not lose confidence while learning.

Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @TheBruinsBlog.

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