If you needed any confirmation that Zdeno Chara is a tough customer, it came today when Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic and Christian Fauria of WEEI both reported that the Boston Bruins captain suffered a broken jaw last night. Chara skated off under his own power after taking a puck to the mouth and returned to the bench wearing a full face shield in order to be with his teammates for the third period. He didn’t play for the rest of the game, and his series now may be in jeopardy.
The Bruins have not officially confirmed the diagnosis—and likely won’t while the playoffs are still ongoing—but losing Chara would be a huge blow to the team. Even though the 42-year old defenseman isn’t quite as mobile as he once was, he’s still an effective player for the Bruins and had been averaging more than 22 minutes a night. He leads the entire playoffs with a +12 rating, and is the Bruins’ primary penalty killing defenseman.
Still, all is not lost for the Bruins. 22-year old Brandon Carlo may be playing the best hockey of his young career and can potentially suck up many of those short-handed minutes, while Charlie McAvoy and Torey Krug remain top puck-moving options for Boston. Unfortunately Matt Grzelcyk is also out due to the concussion he suffered in game two, though his status for the next game has also not been confirmed at this point. That means the team might have to turn to players like Steven Kampfer or 20-year old Urho Vaakanainen to get through the next few games.
Game five goes Thursday night in Boston.
Time for Vaakaneinen to shine
Who ever it is,you better not come in and put your Toes in the water because you will be hit hard
Hockey players are the toughest by far, in hockey a guy break bones and/or gets stitched up and tries to get right back out there, in basketball a guy 6’9 and chiseled muscle flops and acts like he was shot with a cannon ball and needs four players to carrying him off the court.
He looked like he knew it was bad when they kept showing him on the bench last night.
They’ll wire it shut…put him in a caged helmet…give him some pain meds and he plays next game. Chara is one tough SOB!!
Thanks BDD1967 , If Chara is out I would rather see John Moore suit up as veteran of many years and descent on power play, but I feel Chara a veteran will be out there wearing a cage and a kick ass shot, from the point, and a long stick and a great defensive stalwart for many years,
I think the no-skill-bleep-shotters take dives like they were not shot with cannon balls, but more like spitwads. Next time a no-skill-bleep-shotter runs his yap about how tough he thinks he is, remind him of two names: Bob Baun & Big-Z (aka The Stick-Wielding Giraffe, made of genuine cinder blocks!).
HUH!
Tie Domi blew Bauns records out of water , Too young for Baun but seen video of him scoring on broken leg on hockey reference. Big Z will play, far as I know tallest player to hoist cup and will do again.
As a Blues’ fan, I hope so. Can’t wait to see how slow he is on pain meds.
Hockey players are the toughest athletes in the world.I hope Chara can compete at some point in the remaining games.Be well,BIG GUY!
Hockey is tough no doubt, but it’s ballerina compared to Rugby.
No doubt rugby is rugged, but try flying around on 1/8” of steel and trying to time a hit on somebody without earning a penalty and doing all the other things people can’t do on land yet along ice skates.