Peverley had missed the previous two games and has also sat out the bulk of the club's practices the last couple weeks. He has been struggling with a nagging injury, the exact nature of which the club has not disclosed.
He returned Saturday and Bruins coach Claude Julien didn't ease him back into action. Peverley played a regular shift, logging 16:55 of ice time over 21 shifts. He did have two shots and was a rare bright spot on faceoffs, going 6-1 on draws. That's usually a strength for the Bruins, who lead in NHL in faceoff percentage at 55.4 percent but were just 27-for-30 (47 percent) on Saturday.
"I felt fine," Peverley said. "It's just about getting your timing back. It's been a fair amount of days here, so I wasn't very happy with my game overall though."
Peverley didn't factor into either of the Bruins' goals on the night and finished even, but was on the ice for Michael Ryder's power-play goal, which eventually stood up as the game-winner. Ryder actually deked around Peverley in the right circle before the former Bruin cut to the front of the net and beat Tim Thomas with a backhand to make it 3-1 at 19:20 of the first.
Peverley saw plenty of action on special teams. He was fourth on the team and led all forwards in shorthanded time with 2:41 spent on the penalty kill. He was third on the power play, skating 2:26 on the man advantage. Only Zdeno Chara (3:49) and Tyler Seguin (2:30) spent more time on the power play.
Peverley's return may not have been enough for the Bruins to avoid ending their seven-game win streak, but it's certainly a positive sign going forward. He's been one of Boston's most consistent two-way performers this season, and he ranks fifth on the club in scoring with 6-19-25 totals despite missing four games with injuries.
The Bruins recognized his value to the team by locking him up to a three-year, $9.75-million extension earlier this season.
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