Editor’s note: On Sunday, May 31, at 7 p.m. ET, NESN will be airing “Chara at 1000,” celebrating Zdeno Chara reaching the 1,000 game milestone in a Bruins uniform. In the lead-up to that, we will be remembering Chara’s finest moments in Boston — both on and off the ice. For more stories celebrating Chara, click here.
Zdeno Chara has had a pretty remarkable career with a lot of memorable moments.
His 2011 hat trick against the Carolina Hurricanes, winning the Norris Trophy in 2009, becoming the player with the hardest shot in the NHL and, of course, raising the Stanley Cup in 2011 are just a few that come to mind.
But one of the more recent memories happened during Game 5 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final between the Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues at TD Garden.
The 6-foot-9 defenseman broke his jaw during Game 4 after taking a puck to the face. Chara returned to the bench in the eventual 4-2 loss, but it was clear there was some serious damage done.
Questions were raised about whether he’d be available for Game 5 and beyond. But fans didn’t need to wait long to find out the answer, as Chara was on the ice for warmups and in the starting lineup for a crucial Game 5.
And TD Garden let him know how they felt about him not missing any time, despite the pain he had to have been in.
More Bruins: NESN To Debut Zdeno Chara Tribute Show On May 31 To Honor 1,000 Games With Boston
The crowd went nuts when the defenseman’s name was announced, leaving the 21-season veteran overwhelmed.
Check it out for yourself:
Still gives us chills.
It later was revealed just how severe the broken jaw was. During the Bruins’ breakup day, Chara told reporters he had “multiple fractures” in his jaw and had pins in the right side to hold it in place as it was separated into two parts.
Sheesh.
Once Chara’s career is all said and done, we’re sure this memory will be one of the first ones to pop into the minds of B’s fans.
