The Bruins’ banged-up blue line is about to get a boost.
Not only did Steven Kampfer apparently avoid serious injury as he returned to practice on Sunday after suffering a broken nose from an inadvertent stick to the face in Saturday’s loss to Pittsburgh, but the Bruins also activated Mark Stuart from injured reserve.
Stuart has been out since suffering a hand injury in early December. He initially was hurt blocking a shot against Tampa Bay on Dec. 2, then finally had to come out of the lineup after aggravating it against Buffalo on Dec. 7.
Stuart’s long road back was accelerated this week as he returned to practice on Friday, and now is poised to return after an 18-game absence when the Bruins need him most.
Andrew Ference remains sidelined with an upper-body injury suffered Thursday against Philadelphia, so the Bruins could definitely use Stuart’s experience and toughness on defense as they head into a key home-and-home series with Carolina.
On Saturday, the Bruins entered the game with three rookies among their six defensemen dressed, then had to play with just five blueliners for much of the game after Kampfer went down. Zdeno Chara was forced to log a game-high 29:06, his most ice time since he played 31:05 the night Stuart was forced to leave early on Dec. 7.
Johnny Boychuk (26:12) and Adam McQuaid (15:39) each played their most minutes this season, while Dennis Seidenberg also turned in a yeoman’s effort with 27:08.
“We got down to five and obviously, we’re getting a little young back there, but I thought the guys handled it well,” Bruins coach Claude Julien said after Saturday’s game. “We were in the game right until the end and those guys did a good job of holding the fort and so I don’t think we have any reason to be disappointed in our back end the way they handled that situation.”
No reason to be disappointed in the effort, but certainly a cause for concern about the strain such a workload could put on the veterans back there. Even with Kampfer out, rookie Matt Bartkowski played 8:56 in just his second NHL game. He was returned to Providence on Sunday when Stuart was activated, and having Stuart, who averaged 16:43 a game this season before his injury, back on the blue line will allow Julien to better distribute the ice time between all of his pairings.
Stuart, 26, should also provide a needed physical presence on the blue line. He probably won’t be dropping the gloves any time soon as he plans to wear a brace on the hand for several weeks, but he can still dish out big hits, block shots and make life in front of the Bruins’ net miserable for opposing forwards.
The Bruins could use more of that, as they have been outhit in many games of late, and far too many shots have been getting through to goalies Tim Thomas and Tuukka Rask. Stuart had 43 hits in just 26 games, and also had 43 blocked shots.
Stuart was also playing some of his best hockey before the injury, as he was a plus-6 in the final four games before being sidelined. Overall, he has two assists and 23 penalty minutes and is a plus-3 on the season.
The Bruins have been on a roll of late, going 8-3-3 in their last 14 games. Getting a veteran leader like Stuart back on the blue line should help continue that strong play as Boston looks to hold on to the top spot in the Northeast Division.
