After managing just one goal and three points in his first 11 games back, he doubled that total over his next four games, capped by scoring the game-winner in Monday's 2-1 win over the Leafs.
But back on home ice for the first time in two weeks on Thursday, Savard added a new chapter to his long nightmare, as his costly giveaway led to Minnesota's winning goal early in the third period.
With the game tied at 1-1, Savard tried to flip the puck out of his own zone to give the Bruins time for a line change, but he wasn't able to elevate the puck. Instead it went out from the left corner right to the tape of Wild forward Cal Clutterbuck in front, who took the gift and quickly deposited it past Tuukka Rask at 2:22 of the third. Minnesota added an empty-netter in the final minute to close out the 3-1 win and remain undefeated in six visits to Boston in franchise history.
"I just tried to flip it out because we had a tired group out there and I just fanned on it," Savard said. "It was just a mistake. It happens and you just try to bounce back from it."
Savard had a chance to bounce back moments later but again couldn't get the puck up after getting Minnesota goalie Jose Theodore down and out with a deke at the top of the crease.
"I wanted that one," Savard said. "I had him. I faked out and I came back and I had him if I would have gotten it up, but the same as the flipper, it never left the ice."
And after that, Savard rarely left the bench. Bruins coach Claude Julien cut down his rotation to three lines, and Savard was one of the forwards left out of the new combinations. Other than a power-play shift and coming on in the final minute as the extra attacker with Rask pulled, Savard was left glued to the bench for the remainder of the night.
"He put me right back out there and I thought that was good of him, give me a chance," Savard said. "But then he sat me down for a while. That's part of the game. You have to ask him. It's frustrating. I feel like I get better, then something like that happens, then I get sat down.
"My confidence is swaying up and down like a boat," added Savard, who finished a minus-2 in 14:59, as he was on the ice for two Wild goals while playing just four shifts in the third. "It gets tough, but I've been through a lot worse. So I'm going to hang in there. Whatever happens as I move on here, I'm going to keep trying to get better."
While Savard admitted his own confidence has been shaken, he wouldn't speculate on whether Julien had lost faith in the playmaking center.
"That's a question you've got to ask him," Savard said. "He still puts me on the power play and still gives me a regular shift. I've just got to take more advantage of it I guess."
Julien was asked about the benching after the game, and he stood behind the decision. But he also stood behind the beleaguered center, who Julien still expects to contribute to the team this season.
"I think when you make a mistake like that, everybody's got to be accountable," Julien said. "It's one of those things that happen throughout a game. From the first player to the last player you want to make sure everybody understands. It was a mistake that you don't expect a guy like that to make. It doesn't mean that you lose confidence in him, because you're going to go right back with him next game and you hope he's going to bounce back. That's what coaches do. They coach. And that's what I did."
