Bruins Can't Rally in Chara's Absence, Lose 4-2 to Blues

It all started off well.

In the first frame, the Bruins raced out to a quick lead. Torey Krug's blast from the point was redirected by David Backes in front of Jake Allen. After Allen sprawled out to make the original save, Backes pounced on the rebound and scored the 20,000th goal in Bruins history in the process.

Everything was going swimmingly, and then Zdeno Chara went down.

Chara left for the dressing room after one shift in the second period. It is unclear when he sustained the injury.

The Bruins struggled to control in front of the net without Chara. The Blues' second and third goals were scored off of rebounds. The Blues boast a lineup full of heavy forwards who protect the puck well, which the Bruins' defense struggled to clear away from the front of the net without their 6'9" captain.

"A couple of their lines, especially their bigger lines, did a good job of holding onto the puck and that caused some problems for some of our (defense) trying to get the puck away and all of a sudden they are capitalizing on rebounds," Torey Krug said. Krug lead the team with 24:44 time on ice and 32 shifts.

In Coach Claude Julien's post game press conference, he confirmed that he had no word on Chara's condition.

Despite Chara's absence, the Bruins played with energy and had many chances to score. Jake Allen stood tall, making 39 saves in the victory.

The Blues' rock solid defense seamlessly handled the Bruins' zone entries. Dumping-and-changing was largely ineffective, as forwards weren't able to win battles for puck possession. Controlled zone entries either ended with a long shot with two St. Louis defenseman preventing a better scoring opportunity, or a pass and a shot from the point. Either way, the Bruins were not able to generate traffic in front of the net and disrupt Allen's line of sight.

"We need to get bodies in front of the net and we are staying to the outside too much...and we need to move the puck a little bit faster. We are hanging out in the d-zone a little too much," Austin Czarnik stated.

The Bruins visit the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night and return home on Friday to battle the Calgary Flames.

Games Notes

-David Backes notched the Bruins' 20,000th NHL goal. The Bruins are now the second franchise (along with the Montreal Canadiens) to boast this achievement.

-Krug tallied his 100th NHL assist on Backes' first period tally.

-The Bruins are now 0-7-0 on the season when trailing after two periods