Be sure to 'like' Hockeybuzz on Facebook!
Even at 39, captain Zdeno Chara is as important to the Boston Bruins as ever. Something the Black and Gold were painfully reminded of in a 4-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues Tuesday at TD Garden.
Injured on his first and only shift of the second period -- his last shift of the game, too -- in an awkward corner collision with the Blues’ Jaden Schwartz, the Bruins surrendered four goals with their 6-foot-9 captain in the locker room, including two in a 2:12 stretch, both with Chara’s partner and 19-year-old NHL rookie Brandon Carlo exposed by a veteran Blues group that attacked his side.
“I just think that in the second period, with five D’s, we got caught in our own end at times for long periods of time, and then we had some guys that were out there tired, and some of those guys were obviously D’s,… B’s head coach Claude Julien said after the loss. “But some of those guys on the back end, I thought, did a great job of being challenged at playing more. Joe Morrow was one of those guys, and Brandon Carlo had to step up there, and that’s the first time he’s played without his partner. It just goes to show how important Zee [Zdeno Chara] is to our hockey club and to Brandon.…
Both of the Bruins’ goals on the night came on special teams, as David Backes scored the game’s first goal, and in his first head-to-head with his former team, with a power-play goal. The goal was Backes’ fourth of the season, and was actually credited as the 20,000th goal in franchise history.
Boston’s second came on a shorthanded partial break for Dominic Moore, who flew into the St. Louis zone with speed before he roofed home his fifth goal of the season, and second shorthanded tally.
It was the only time that the Bruins got by Blues netminder Jake Allen on a night in which they once again pummeled well over 30 shots on net, with 41 pucks thrown Allen’s way in a losing effort.
“Sometimes it’s a matter of circumstances and bounces, but another game where we get over 40 shots on a team that’s really good defensively and good at keeping teams out of their zone and limiting opponents shots that you just - we need to find a way to get more,… Backes said after the loss that put an end to their three-game home winning streak. “I think there’s a few loose pucks, second opportunities that if it’s under the bar we really bear down there, shoot it through the goalie or through the back of the net. Maybe it’s a 5-3 game or a 5-2 game and a different story can be written, but not the case, we’ve got to move forward and learn again a tough lesson of 40 shots and two goals. We need to get what we’re putting into these games and start reaping some of what we’re sewing.…
What the Bruins did in the St. Louis zone was more of the same from a club that’s established some strong possession numbers through the first fourth of the season, but without the finish that’s seemingly eluded them all year long, it comes back to the defensive play in their zone.
And while it wasn’t the worst, there’s no doubt that losing the No. 1 defenseman threw everything in a scramble, evident by the second period that really allowed the Blues to take this game over.
“Different guys are playing with each other and you’re trying to figure out some different matchups,… admitted John-Michael Liles. “But, I thought they came out better in the second period. They generated some zone time on us in the second even before Zee went down and it just took us a little bit to rise back up and get back onto their zone. They generated a couple quick goals from it.…
The quick goals seemed to take the B’s by surprise as a whole, especially Tuukka Rask.
“I didn’t register a guy,… Rask said of the second Blues goal. “It was kind of a bad rebound, and I batted it right to the guy and then I just got up. And when I got up, he shot it. Just late to react and kind of same with the third one. I steered to the corner, it hit my toe and bounced right to the guy. So I think throughout the game I gave up a lot of, kind of, rebounds. Even in the close range area, I would like to handle them but that happens sometimes and yeah.…
The loss dropped the Bruins to 11-8-0 on the season.
David Krejci ties Marcotte on B’s all-time scoring list
The Bruins’ first goal had a little bit of history across the board. Not only was it the organization’s 20,000th goal, but with an assist on the goal, it was the 100th assist of Torey Krug’s NHL career. And only that, but it was also the 484th point of David Krejci’s career. That mark ties the veteran Czech center with Don Marcotte for the 15th-most points in team history. Next on the leaderboard for the career-long Bruin to pass? Adam Oates and his 499 points in a B’s uniform.
Chara labeled with lower-body injury, to miss game vs. Ottawa
The Bruins did have an update of sorts on their captain Wednesday.
Absent from practice, the team has labeled Chara ‘day-to-day’ and announced that he will miss tomorrow’s game against the Ottawa Senators at the very least. (Julien seems to believe he’s unlikely to play Friday against the Calgary Flames, too, though nothing is official just yet.)
Without Chara, the Bruins have bumped the second pairing of Torey Krug and Adam McQuaid up to first pairing status, Liles and Carlo have been reunited for the first time since training camp, and Joe Morrow and Kevan Miller made up the team’s third pairing. Miller, absent from the first 19 games of the season with a fractured left hand, has been cleared and seems likely to make his season debut.
The Bruins have been without Chara 21 times since the start of the 2014-15 season, and have gone 11-9-1 over that stretch, including an 0-2-0 mark at the start of last season without Big Z.
Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010 and has been a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter since 2013. Ty is also the Boston Bruins beat writer for WEEI.com and can also be found in the New England Hockey Journal. Contact him on Twitter or send him an email at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.