While the rest of the Bruins got the morning off after beating the Kings 3-0 in Boston and traveling to Ottawa on Tuesday night, Chara and Jordan Caron, who had been a healthy scratch on Tuesday, got in a non-contact workout Wednesday morning with assistant coach Doug Jarvis.
It was the first time Chara has been back on skates since suffering what the team has classified as a lower-body injury Saturday in Columbus. Chara was hurt in the second period when his left knee bent awkwardly in a collision with Blue Jackets forward Antoine Vermette.
Chara did not practice Monday and missed his first game of the season by sitting out on Tuesday. But the fact that he was able to get back on the ice Wednesday was encouraging.
"I felt OK," Chara told reporters after the workout. "It was the first time I was on the ice in three or four days, so I didn't expect to be feeling great, but also I didn't feel bad. That's a good sign. You're going to have those days slowly progressing."
Will that progress be quick enough to play against his old club in Ottawa on Wednesday night?
"Probably most likely not, but it's a game-time decision," Chara said.
Chara had missed just 12 games in his first five seasons in Boston before Tuesday's contest became unlucky No. 13. There's no question the Bruins captain would like nothing better than to avoid missing another on Wednesday, but he knows he has to remain patient and not rush his recovery if he wants to avoid missing even more games.
"You want to play, that's the bottom line," Chara said. "There's a lot of guys who play with different, smaller injuries. But at the same time you don't want to push yourself to do more damage or [make it] something more serious that would put you on the sideline for a long period of time. In my case, yes it is frustrating a little bit. I want to play, but at the same time I know if I take a few days and really make sure the injury gets time to heal, I have a better chance to avoid further problems with it."
