New England Hockey Journal - December 2015 - 14

BRUINS CLUBHOUSE
CLUBHOUSE ByBy Andrew
Andrew Merritt
Merritt

@A_Merritt
@A_Merritt

'Seids'
rounds
into
form
F

OR THE three-plus seasons after he
was traded to Boston in 2010, Dennis
Seidenberg was about as close as you
get to a given in the National Hockey League.
Starting with his first game in a Bruins
uniform on March 4, 2010, and running
through the end of the 2012-13 season, Seidenberg played in 224 of the next 233 regular-season games for the Bruins - an attendance rate of 96.1 percent. In fact, if you
extend out to the first 38 games of the 201314 season, he played in 258 of a possible 271
regular-season games as a Bruin, missing
less than 5 percent of the team's contests.
But that 38th game in 2013 changed
everything. Dec. 27, 2013, saw Seidenberg
laid low by an awkward collision near the
Boston net, his knee giving way and his
season suddenly over. He returned to play

all 82 games of the 2014-15 season, but was
clearly a step slower, especially early on.
This season seemed to be the one in
which the real Dennis Seidenberg - the
rock-steady, defense-playing, heavy-hitting,
occasional-goal-scoring Dennis Seidenberg - might finally return to making regular appearances.
Instead, Seidenberg said he woke up on
Sept. 14, right before the start of training
camp, to a shooting pain in his leg; it was
a symptom of a back injury that required
a lumbar microdiscectomy, which Seidenberg underwent on Sept. 24. He was expected to miss eight weeks in a year when
the Bruins desperately needed the veteran
defensive presence he brings each night.
He came back in seven. Forty-nine days
after the surgery, Seidenberg returned to

Maddie Meyer/Getty Images; Brian Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images (bottom)

THE NUMBER: 10 | As of the middle of November, 10 players had played their first games in Bruins sweaters this season.
the lineup for the Bruins' game against
Colorado on Nov. 12. Despite the Bruins'
3-2 loss to the Avalanche, the No. 44 in
black and gold was a welcome sight. Seidenberg returned a week earlier than the
original plan dictated because, he said,
"Just the way I looked on the ice to the
coaches and the trainers and the way I felt,
we kind of decided to target today."
Seidenberg logged 15:34 on ice over 20
shifts - far below his normal average. Two
nights later, he worked 23 shifts totaling 19:05,
took two shots on net and was on the ice for
Torey Krug's goal late in the third period.
More importantly, he didn't look out of
place in either game, and other than getting beat by Colorado's John Mitchell on
what ended up being a shot off the post
late in the first period, he had no major
gaffes in his first two games back.
"I feel more comfortable," he said after
the Nov. 14 win over Detroit. "I can't say
I'm at 100 percent; I don't feel like it. But it's
about playing smart, being well-positioned,
and for the most part it's been good."
Three nights later, Seidenberg played
in his 700th NHL game as the Bruins took
on San Jose.
One of the questions Seidenberg had to
answer for himself was how well his repaired
back would stand up to the scrutiny of his
hard-hitting style of play. In both of those first
two games, he got physically involved early.
"To get into the game, especially in the
beginning, you always want to either get a
hit or take a hit, get a shot, something that
gets you in the game," he said. "For me, I
think it was important to be able to take hits
with the injury I had, and it's feeling good."
The key early on for Seidenberg was to
play to his strengths and not overextend.
"He definitely brings that solidarity
back there," said center Patrice Bergeron.
"With the experience that he has, I think
he calms everything down, or everyone
down, back there and he's been great."

THE LIST: AVS' DOMINANCE AT TD GARDEN

THE QUOTE

The Bruins' 3-2 loss to Colorado on Nov. 12 marked the 10th straight game in which the team has failed to beat the Avalanche at home. It also was the
eighth straight loss to the Avs on Causeway Street, which sets a franchise record for the longest losing streak at home to one opponent, surpassing a
pair of seven-game droughts Boston had previously suffered through against Detroit. The Bruins have a chance to snap another seven-game streak
when they play Montreal on New Year's Day. So let's take a spin through recent history and look at the last 10 times the Avs have come to Boston.

'you would
rather go
home and
see your
parents with
a win,
so now we
will start
establishing
our home
record.'

DATE

SCORE

WINNING GOAL

WINNING GOALIE

Nov. 12, 2015

3-2

Matt Duchene

Reto Berra

Oct. 13, 2014

2-1

Daniel Briere

Reto Berra

Oct 10, 2013

2-0

Ryan O'Reilly

Jean-Sebastien Giguere

Oct. 10, 2011

1-0

Milan Hejduk

Semyon Varlamov

Oct. 12, 2009

4-3

David Jones

Craig Anderson

March 6, 2007

2-0

Brett Clark

Peter Budaj

Feb. 4, 2003

3-2 (OT) Greg de Vries

Patrick Roy

March 24, 2001 4-2

Chris Drury

Patrick Roy

Oct. 11, 1999

3-3

N/A

Feb. 2, 1999

3-2

Milan Hejduk

Patrick Roy

14 NEw ENGLAND HOCKEY JOURNAL December 2015

- Jimmy Hayes
(Dorchester, Mass.),
on ending the Bruins'
early woes at home

THE NOTEBOOK
The Bruins were hit with their first huge
injury of the year when Chris Kelly went
down with a broken femur on Nov. 3 against
Dallas. Kelly had surgery the following day
at Mass. General Hospital, and is expected to
miss six to eight months. Kelly turned 35 on
Nov. 11 and he becomes an unrestricted free
agent at the end of this season. ...
The Bruins brought three recent draft
picks into the fold in November, signing forwards Jake DeBrusk and Zach
Senyshyn and defenseman Jeremy
Lauzon to entry-level contracts. DeBrusk
was the Bruins' first pick of the 2015 draft
(14th overall), and Senyshyn was taken
one pick behind him. Lauzon was selected
52nd overall. All three players are currently
with their Canadian Major Junior teams. ...
Tyler Seguin became the first opposing player to score a hat trick at TD Garden
since Thomas Vanek potted three goals on
Jan. 31, 2013. It was the seventh career hat
trick for Seguin, who had one as a Bruin -
a feat he achieved on the road in Toronto. ...
David Krejci's goal against Detroit on
Nov. 14 gave him eight for the season, which
already puts him
past the seven he
scored in his injurysaddled 2014-15
season. ...
Alexander
Khokhlachev
had a short-lived
 David Krejci
call-up on Nov.
3 to play in the
Bruins' 5-3 loss to Dallas and their 4-1 loss to
Washington before being sent back down to
Providence in favor of Frank Vatrano (East
Longmeadow, Mass.). It only got worse from
there, as Khokhlachev suffered a hand injury
the following weekend in Providence and is
expected to miss four to six weeks. ...
It took seven years for a Bruins rookie
to score in his first NHL game since Blake
Wheeler did it on Oct. 9, 2008, as Tyler
Randell scored in his debut on Oct. 14. But
it took less than a month for another Bruins
rookie to do it, as Vatrano popped in his first
NHL goal in his debut at Montreal on Nov. 7. ...
In addition to Seidenberg's 700th
career NHL game, the Bruins' clash with
San Jose on Nov. 17 marked the 300th NHL
contest of Adam McQuaid's career. ...
Patrice Bergeron is chasing a few
Bruins legends on the team's scoring charts
this season. As of Nov. 15, Bergeron had
566 career points, putting him just nine
behind Milt Schmidt for 11th all-time in
Boston. Bergeron also entered the second
half of November three assists behind
Adam Oates on the Bruins' all-time helpers list, where Oates is ninth with 357. ...
The Bruins' five-game homestand
that began Nov. 12 is their longest of the
season, and it came after a run of five out
of six games played on the road.

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New England Hockey Journal - December 2015

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