Chara Injured During Bruins Preseason Win Over Rangers
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Boston Bruins may have a big problem on their blue line.
In his first action of the preseason, Bruins captain Zdeno Chara suffered an upper-body injury in Thursday night's 4-3 shootout win over the New York Rangers at TD Garden. The injury occurred in the first period, and Chara did not return after leaving the ice.
Chara played three shifts and logged 1:57 of ice time before going down with the injury, which he suffered after being checked into the boards by Rangers forward Ryan Bourque.
Head coach Claude Julien did not have an update on Chara after the game, just saying the blue liner would be evaluated closely. He is expected to be re-examined on Friday.
The 38-year-old defenseman battled injuries throughout the 2014-15 season, playing in just 63 games. He suffered a knee injury in late October that kept him sidelined until December, and never really regained his form after returning.
Losing Chara for any amount of time would be a big blow to the Boston blue line, which already lost Dennis Seidenberg for eight weeks following the defenseman's back surgery on Thursday.