Zdeno Chara to miss 4 to 6 weeks with left knee injury
On Friday, Tuukka Rask returned from a leave of absence. The same could not be said for Zdeno Chara (left knee), Charlie McAvoy (head), Brandon Carlo (upper body), Kevan Miller (right hand), John Moore (lower body), and Urho Vaakanainen (head), six defensemen who would make for a pretty good varsity six-pack.
Sprinkle in a banged-up Patrice Bergeron, compromised after being ridden into the boards by Radek Faksa, and the Bruins were at risk of Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, and the rest of the Stars running rampant over their riddled roster.
Yet the Bruins, with Connor Clifton and Jakub Zboril making their NHL debuts, recorded a most improbable point in a 1-0 overtime loss to Dallas. The only blemish was an overtime rush goal by Jason Dickinson after Brad Marchand failed to connect with David Pastrnak up the ice.
“I don’t think it was difficult at all,” Rask (36 saves) said of playing behind defensemen who should have been wearing name tags. “I thought guys stepped up and played well. I didn’t notice any difference out there.”
The short-term point was tempered by long-term concern. Chara will miss 4-6 weeks because of his injury, according to a source with knowledge of the situation. Chara was diagnosed on Friday in Boston.
The Bruins managed Chara’s absence efficiently against the Stars. Matt Grzelcyk and Jeremy Lauzon took most of the shutdown shifts, with Benn, Seguin, and Alex Radulov being their primary opponents.
Chara would have leaned on Dallas’s top-line forwards, especially the heavier Benn and Radulov. Grzelcyk (25:27 of ice time, a career high) and Lauzon (24:52, also a personal best) used their skating, stickwork, and smarts to keep the first-liners off the scoresheet.
“The defending part was good,” said Bruce Cassidy of his makeshift first pairing. “They didn’t allow them odd-man rushes by being caught. I think there was one — I don’t know if it was those two, I’d have to go back and look at it — but for the most part, they were respectful of who they were playing against and how they had to play. Did a nice job.”
One game, however, is far easier to get through than the dozen more, at the minimum, that Chara is expected to miss. Before Chara limped off the ice against Colorado on Wednesday, Cassidy enjoyed the security of sending out his strongman for every difficult defensive assignment. Even while McAvoy and Carlo suffered their respective injuries, Chara was the constant on Cassidy’s top pairing.
The monthlong absence of their best shutdown defenseman may be compounded by the potential loss of their best defensive forward. At 7:45 of the second period, Bergeron skated to the dressing room after his left shoulder took the weight of his tumble into the wall.
Bergeron returned later in the second and completed the game. But he was doubled over in pain on the bench after engaging in a puck contest during a third-period penalty kill. He did not take draws. In fact, Bergeron did not even play center. Bergeron finished the game with 13:00 of ice time, well off his 18:55 average workload. Bergeron did not take a shift in overtime.
