BOSTON — Zdeno Chara didn’t play Thursday, but it wasn’t because he wanted to stay out.
The Boston Bruins’ captain was a late scratch in Thursday’s 5-4 win against the Winnipeg Jets. Earlier in the day, head coach Bruce Cassidy said Chara seemed fine, even though he took a punch in the jaw during a fight in Tuesday’s win over the Nashville Predators.
Of course, Chara suffered a jaw injury during the 2019 postseason and had a follow-up procedure on back in December. Additionally, he had to get an abscess taken care of earlier this week.
Following the game, Cassidy admitted he was a little surprised Chara didn’t play.
“We talked this morning,” Cassidy said. “He had a procedure the other day again on the surgery from last year in the playoffs, and there’s a little bit of pain involved there inside. He wanted to play, and I’ve got to tell you, myself and (Don Sweeney) kind of talked him out of it, to be honest with you, because that is going to have to heal properly so he’s not going through it all the time.
“Now, what that timeline is, I don’t know, I think it’s short-term,” Cassidy continued. “So, we decided to shut Zee down tonight. Hopefully, he is better for the road trip; that kind of calms down, but I guess we’ll get a better read tomorrow. I don’t know if he has a follow-up appointment, but it’s been acting up on him a little bit, and he’s playing through a lot of pain right now.”
With Chara out, Matt Grzelcyk went up to the top pairing with Charlie McAvoy, while Steven Kampfer slotted into the lineup and joined John Moore on the third duo.
