Bruins Notebook: Zdeno Chara to miss Monday’s game due to jaw procedure, Cassidy looking for more from 4th line

A slumping Bruins club stuck in a 1-4-4 rut was already facing a tough task on Monday night against a Capitals team that has posted wins in 16 of its last 17 matchups against Boston. Now, to make matters worse, the B’s are going to be without their captain for the Monday-night matchup at TD Garden.

Speaking to the media Sunday afternoon at Warrior Ice Arena, Bruce Cassidy noted that Zdeno Chara will sit out of the contest due to a procedure that he will undergo on his jaw. Chara, who suffered a broken jaw during Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final, will have to go under the knife to remove plates and screws in an effort to treat an infection that has sprouted up in that area. The procedure, which has been planned for some time now, was decided on in order to prevent further complications from arising.

"The area where the surgery was done got infected, which is kind of rare, but it does happen after six months," Chara said."The decision was made to avoid maybe further troubleshooting with that area to basically remove all the plates and screws and clean it up. Pretty much the same (surgery), just instead of putting the plates in, it's gonna be taking the plates out."

Even though Chara will be sidelined for Monday’s matchup, the veteran skater has not been ruled out for Friday’s road matchup against the Sabres. Chara doesn’t believe the procedure will force him to play with a wired-shut jaw — as he did for Games 5-7 of the Cup Final. 

He might be missed for a key matchup against the Caps, but Chara did note that the upcoming Christmas break will give him plenty of time to recover and not risk missing an extended amount of games. 

"It's never going to be perfect (timing-wise)," Chara said "We tried to plan this and obviously we tried to make that decision ahead of time. That's what it is. We tried to take advantage of that little break that we have coming up so it's not too demanding on the body. It worked out to be the last game before the Christmas break."

With Chara out for Monday’s game, the Bruins will



roll with John Moore on the top D pairing with Charlie McAvoy — with the defenseman set to make his first appearance since last Tuesday against the Kings. 

Moore and McAvoy have only played together for 6:25 of 5v5 ice time this season — and just 35:31 of TOI during the entire 2018-19 campaign. If Cassidy opts to switch things around in case Washington’s top six starts to tilt the ice in its favor, look for McAvoy to potentially get a look next to Matt Grzelcyk or Torey Krug as the game progresses. So far this season, Boston boasts a plus-39 shots differential and a plus-97 edge in shot attempts during the 218:52 that McAvoy has skated next to either Krug or Grzelcyk.

“We’re going to start him with Charlie,” Cassidy said of Moore. “Just make it a 1-for-1 swap. Good matchup for Mooresy tonight, against either Kuznetsov or Backstrom. He’s a good skater, he’s got size, so he’s got some games under his belt now. So we’ll see how he does. 

“If not, then Grizz has to move up. Completely different animal, matchup-wise, against those bigger bodies. You gotta be quick, good stick and get the puck in and out of your end. But that’s what we’re looking at. I’m sure we’ll look at different combinations, but that’s how we’re gonna start.”

B’s looking for more from the fourth line

A game removed from tinkering with the B’s bottom six, Cassidy once again shuffled things around on Monday, swapping out Chris Wagner in place of Joakim Nordstrom on a third line with Charlie Coyle and Anders Bjork. 

While the additions of Par Lindholm and Brett Ritchie have forced one of Wagner/Nordstrom into a third-line role for the time being, Cassidy did note that the production of the usual line of Nordstrom-Kuraly-Wagner has left a lot to be desired. 

Trusted as a hard-nosed, dependable forward trio that can hold its own against an opposing top-six unit, the Kuraly line has had a bit of a rougher go of it so far in 2019-20, with Boston outscored, 5-2, in their 129:19 of 5v5 ice time. 

“It will be good to get secondary scoring from that line, but that’s a bit of a bonus,” Cassidy said. “They’ve chipped in. But at the end of the day, I think the trio of Nordstrom, Kuraly and Wagner, haven’t been at the level they were last year. Sometimes that expectation gets up there as well. So maybe we’re judging them too harshly. Nordy missed some time in training camp, so I think he chased the game a little bit. But getting back to Wagner — He was playing through an injury for awhile and I think that affected his play. 

“Now it's just a matter of, we’re healthy, we’re going to use different players, different lineups and sometimes the message is — ‘Hey, listen, you’re a solid player, there’s other solid players around here, we need you to be better.’ That’s a little bit of what’s going on lately. Some of that is performance-oriented, sometimes its team-record oriented. Wags is always going to be physical and give you what he’s got. I’d like that line to get back to being where they were the second half of the year, where we know exactly what we’re getting every night and teams can’t stand playing against them. That’s our goal and maybe juggling them in and out for awhile helps achieve that.”