After breaking out last season with 50 points and finishing with a plus-32 rating, Bruins defenseman Dennis Wideman struggled through a frustrating season at a minus-14, finishing with only 30 points.
Wideman ended the season strong with a five-game point streak, but that was after a season full of boos from the TD Garden crowd and after being labeled the scapegoat for almost anything that went wrong for the Bruins.
But after watching Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle make an errant clear into his own net to lose a 1-0 overtime heartbreaker to Colorado in Game 3 of their Western Conference quarterfinals series, Wideman realizes it could have been worse for him this season.
"That's probably about the only thing that didn't happen [this season]", Wideman said with a smile. “Still could, I guess.”
Wideman pointed out that Boyle played “a hell of a game” until that point and felt bad for his fellow blue line brethren.
"The goalie’s got to pay attention; the goalie should have that,” joked Wideman, before turning serious. “Any time something like that happens, it’s terrible. You feel bad for the guy because obviously he’s been a great player for them and had a great year. To have it happen in overtime, to lose a game — and a playoff game — that’s tough.”
Even through the toughest times he’s had this season, not even Wideman imagined something like that could happen to him, because if he tried to imagine it, chances are he would make a similar mistake.
“No, you don’t think about that. Oh God, no,” Wideman said. “If you start thinking about that. … You can’t think about stuff that could go wrong. You’ve just got to think about making a play. Every time you make a play, you’re not thinking about it going wrong or what could possibly happen. You’re thinking about, 'I’m going to make this play.'”
