There’s no doubting that the Boston Bruins missed Dennis Seidenberg.

Making his 2015-16 season debut in Thursday’s 3-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche after back surgery on September 24 kept the German-born defenseman out of action for nearly two months, Seidenberg certainly showed he was getting his feet wet for the first time in a long time.

It was Seidenberg’s first game action since April 11, 2014.

“He did well for a guy that hadn’t played at all this year,” Bruins head coach Claude Julien told the media following the loss Thursday night in which his team had a 2-0 first period lead that was washed away by the Avs’ three unanswered goals.

Seidenberg saw 15:34 of ice time — the lowest among Bruins defenseman — but did manage to register a game-high six hits. Not only did Seidenberg dish out the hits, he took them, too. Early in the first, Seidenberg was drilled by Avalanche forward Cody McLeod along the boards. Seidenberg showed no ill-effects from the hit. The sequence led to Tyler Randell dropping the gloves with McLeod in a spirited fight.

“Yeah it’s always good to start a game either giving a hit or taking a hit. It gets you in the game right away,” Seidenberg said of his collision with McLeod. “It wasn’t a bad hit at all. Tyler [Randell] didn’t even know who got hit. All he did was just heard the crowd making noise and he thought he had to step up which I appreciate. Again it was a good hit and it was fine.”

Seidenberg showed his rust at times last night. Multiple times Seidenberg was a step behind the Avalanche skaters, allowing the Colorado forwards to sneak behind the Bruins defense, resulting in odd-man rushes and prime scoring chances.

Although that should have been expected from a guy who hasn’t had the chance to get his legs under game, Seidenberg hopes to build off of a tough night.

‘It felt alright, obviously there is more work to be done,” Seidenberg said following Thursday’s contest. “But I think it was a good first step, and there’s room to get better for sure.”

Getting better is what the Bruins and their defense need to do. The return of Seidenberg should help that.

A veteran on the Bruins’ blue line, and an important part of their core, Seidenberg knows what his role is and what he needs to do to help the Bruins improve.

“I mean my role is [to] play my brand of hockey which is playing solid defensively, penalty killing,” Seidenberg said. “Just making a simple play and playing physical hockey and winning my battles and that’s just what we have to focus on and whatever else happens, its fine.”

A top penalty killer for the Bruins, Seidenberg should help the Bruins on the penalty kill. Ranking dead last in all of the National Hockey League, the Bruins can use all the help they can get. The B’s killed off of all three of Colorado’s power plays on Thursday and Seidenberg saw a healthy 2:10 of shorthanded ice time.

Seidenberg is no stranger to coming back from injury after suffering a leg injury in the 2013-14 season that cut his season short. He skated in all 82 games last season, but it was different Seidenberg than what people were use to.

This time around, Seidenberg hopes for a better comeback than the last.

“I mean last time I came back, definitely at times was struggling. I felt a little better tonight. Felt like I made quicker decisions and watching games definitely helps,” added Seidenberg.

“Last time I came back from the knee injury, didn’t do anything all summer and basically didn’t see any hockey, watch any hockey. But being at games, watching the games definitely helped getting into that game mode a little bit.”