Bruins Lose Zdeno Chara To Lower Body Injury

BOSTON (CBS) -- The Bruins' blue line should be renamed the black and blue line.

Boston lost yet another defenseman during Wednesday night's 6-3 loss in Denver, and this was a big one. This time, it was captain Zdeno Chara who made his way to the dressing room and did not return.

The 41-year-old was lost to a lower body injury in the first period after colliding with Avalanche forward Carl Soderberg. Chara's left knee bent awkwardly after making contact with Soderberg, and the B's captain was seen leaving the arena with a brace on his knee and a noticeable limp, according to the Boston Herald's Steve Conroy.

In true Chara fashion, he finished his shift before leaving the ice.

Chara is the fifth Bruins defenseman to go down with an injury this season, joining Charlie McAvoy (concussion), Kevan Miller (hand), Brandon Carlo (upper body injury) and rookie Urho Vaakanainen (concussion) in the Boston infirmary.

Boston head coach Bruce Cassidy didn't have much of an update on his captain following Wednesday night's loss, but Chara will be re-examined on Thursday. It seems unlikely he'll be lacing them up for Friday night's game against the Stars in Dallas, which would leave Boston without three of their top four defensemen. That will likely mean 2015 first-round pick Jakub Zboril, called up earlier this week as an extra d-man, will make his NHL debut in Dallas.

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