The injury bug has made its way through the Bruins locker room all season long.  One can point to the injury bug as to why the Bruins have been a below average team all season long. One can also point to a handful of other reasons as to why the Bruins sit right on the cusp of the Eastern Conference playoff bubble.

On Saturday the Bruins injury bug finally left TD Garden (for now) as Adam McQuaid returned to the lineup in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators. The contest marked only the third time all season the Bruins did not have a player out of the lineup due to an injury.

According to mangameslost.com, the Bruins have lost 93 man-games due to injuries, the 14th most among National Hockey League teams.

The Bruins issues certainly run deeper than their season long rash of injuries, but getting everyone back to normal health could be the start the Bruins are looking for.

McQuaid’s return was a welcoming sign for the Bruins as the veteran defenseman was playing very well before breaking a thumb in the Bruins’ 2-0 win over the St. Louis Blues on November 18. McQuaid logged 17:26 of ice time and registered two hits in his return.

“Overall pretty good, there were definitely some highs and lows with the game but I guess it’s always good to be back and be a part of things,” McQuaid said.

On a day of frustration, head coach Claude Julien was pleased with the way McQuaid played in the loss.

“Good start – I thought he moved the puck well,” Julien said about McQuaid. “For a guy who didn’t play in a long time, I thought he was pretty poised with the puck and played a pretty solid game” said Julien.”

Anytime a player is out of the lineup, it’s frustrating, but when the team is struggling it’s even more difficult knowing there’s nothing you can do about it.

Now that he’s healthy, McQuaid hopes he can help the club start to win hockey games again

“Whether you are winning or losing you want to be a part of it,” said the veteran defenseman. “Obviously you want to be a part of winning and trying to be part of the solution. Right now it’s just tough with some of the outcomes we have been getting but I’m happy to be back and hopefully we can turn things around here and start winning some hockey games.”

With the Bruins now finally 100% (knock on wood) it’s time to see what the 2014-15 Boston Bruins are really made of. The Bruins hope it’s the first step towards getting back to where they want to be as a team.

“It definitely is the first step,” said defensemen Torey Krug. “We got to keep reminding ourselves that anybody can play on any given night. Obviously we have seven D that can play in this league. It’s healthy competition, but it’s something as a group, we’re all happy that everybody is healthy and now we can move forward.”

The Bruins keep hanging their hat on “effort” and how the effort is there. Unfortunately for the Bruins, results, not effort wins hockey games. Now that their healthy and have the lineup they drew up way back in September, maybe the effort will produce positive results.

Those positive results are something they need sooner rather than later.