The Boston Bruins’ defense will be even more of a patchwork unit Friday night when the B’s visit the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Arena.
Bruins captain Zdeno Chara left Wednesday night’s loss to the Colorado Avalanche after the first period. Near the end of the stanza, Chara went to hit Avs center Carl Soderberg along the boards, but when the 41-year-old made contact his left knee buckled inward. He skated out the remainder of his shift gingerly but did not return after the first intermission.
Head coach Bruce Cassidy told reporters Chara would be re-examined Thursday and the team issued an update on the defensive anchor’s status.
The B’s already are without Charlie McAvoy, Kevan Miller, Brandon Carlo, Urho Vaakanainen on the blue line and Torey Krug only recently returned from his own ankle injury.
Boston saw the impact of Chara’s absence in the late stages of its 6-3 loss to the Avs. With Krug, Steven Kampfer, Matt Grzelcyk, John Moore and Jeremy Lauzon forced to play a ton of minutes, Colorado exploded for five consecutive goals, four of which came in the third period to hand the B’s the loss.
