Bruins’ Defense Seeking Consistency Without Zdeno Chara, Kevan Miller

The Boston Bruins showed Saturday that they’re capable of playing solid defense without Zdeno Chara and Kevan Miller, but it’ll take a lot more than their 4-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs to keep them in the win column.

“Well, that’s just it. I think when (you) look at our situation, we played well last game, but that’s just one game,” Bruins coach Claude Julien told BostonBruins.com’s Caryn Switaj after Monday’s practice. “We have to be able to sustain it, that’s the challenge that we have right now, and that’s the challenge that we’re facing and that we’ve got to respond to.”

Chara went down with a PCL injury during Thursday night’s loss to the New York Islanders and will be sidelined for four to six weeks. Miller, on the other hand, is out indefinitely after dislocating his shoulder Oct. 18.

B’s blueliner Dennis Seidenberg was pleased with his team’s first effort without the two D-men, but he echoed Julien’s sentiments about being consistent.

“We played as a unit on the ice, and it showed,” Seidenberg told Switaj. “When you play like that, it makes the game a whole lot simpler.

“We want to play consistent hockey, and hopefully we learn from the past. When Zee was here, we’d have a couple real solid games, and then get off again. So our plan is to keep going, get over .500 and just play a solid team game and hopefully win more hockey games than we have in the past few (weeks).”

The B’s will get to test their consistency Tuesday night, when they take on the Minnesota Wild at TD Garden.

Photo via Tom Szczerbowski/USA TODAY Sports Images