BRUINS NOTEBOOK: Defenseman John Moore takes advantage of opportunity

John Moore, largely absent from the rotation since the Bruins’ defense corps returned to full health, returned to help the Bruins win twice over the weekend.

BOSTON -- It might not have qualified exactly as adding injury to insult, but it was close.

John Moore, the greatest casualty of the Bruins’ defense corps returning to full health, got a chance to play on Saturday against the Kings. He was in the midst of a solid game when he deflected a shot, sending the puck up the shaft of his stick and into his face, forcing him to the bench and then the dressing room for examination and repair.

“I got really lucky,” said Moore, who was left with only a small cut on his nose. “It got my visor, which took the brunt of it. Thank God I was wearing the visor, but it stunned me.”

While not necessarily stunned, Moore has understandably been disappointed to be caught on the wrong side of the numbers game on the Bruins’ blue line. Except for a three-game injury absence in mid-November, he was a valuable veteran presence on a defense battered by multiple injuries throughout the season’s first half, but Moore has usually been the odd man out since Charlie McAvoy (foot) became the last of the injured defensemen to return to play on Jan. 12.

Moore sat out eight of 10 games until Saturday when Matt Grzelcyk was sidelined by a lower body injury that also kept him out of Sunday's 2-1, overtime win against the Avalanche. Moore took advantage, scoring his third goal of the season in Sunday’s second period, and nearly netting another later: His blast into Avalanche territory hit a curved piece of glass at the end of the Bruins’ bench and caromed past Avs goalie Semyon Varlamov, but the goal was disallowed because pucks are ruled out of play when they hit that section of glass.

Moore, who signed a five-year contract last summer ($2.75 million per season) after three full seasons with the Devils, has to remind himself to try not to do too much more than usual in an attempt to stay in the lineup.

“You can’t be trying to hit a home run,” said Moore, also a former Blue Jacket, Ranger and Coyote whose wife delivered a baby girl on Thursday. “You have to make sure you know what you do, and bring that to the table. When you really start pressing and chasing the game, that’s when mistakes can compound. You can kind of get in trouble that way.

“So for me, it’s just an understanding of what the team needs from me, and just trying to be simple and steady.”

Left of center: Sean Kuraly’s return to center didn’t last long. After spending Saturday centering the Bruins’ unsettled third line, Kuraly moved back to left wing on what coach Bruce Cassidy now calls “the (Noel) Acciari line,” which has Chris Wagner at right wing, on Sunday against the Avalanche.

A center throughout last year’s rookie campaign and into the start of this season, Kuraly was moved to wing after a Dec. 9 fight against the Senators’ Ben Harpur left Kuraly with injuries that required full facial protection thereafter. (He didn’t miss any time.) Acciari moved from right wing to center, Wagner from left wing to right.

Kuraly had played wing long enough before Saturday to lose his bearings from time to time against the Kings.

“It keeps you on your toes,” he said. “There were times I caught myself coming up the left side, as I was playing center.

“Luckily, I’ve got a bunch of good linemates. ... They’ll usually cover me, and make the mistakes OK.”

Around the boards: Cassidy said that Grelczyk, injured in Wednesday’s loss to the Rangers in New York, skated on Saturday and took Sunday off. Grzelcyk’s status for Tuesday’s game against the Blackhawks will be influenced by whether he can practice on Monday. ...With Trent Frederic back in the lineup, David Backes was a healthy scratch for the third time since Jan. 16 and the second time in the last three games … Defenseman Steven Kampfer was assigned to AHL Providence on a conditioning basis. Kampfer, who hadn’t played since Dec. 23 (18 straight DNPs), was in the P-Bruins lineup for Sunday’s 4-0 victory over the Syracuse Crunch.