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Chara ‘out there skating, but he won’t be playing tonight’

Boston Bruins v Florida Panthers

SUNRISE, FL - MARCH 7: Zdeno Chara #33 of the Boston Bruins skates towards the face-off circle during first period action against the Florida Panthers at the BB&T Center on March 7, 2016 in Sunrise, Florida. The Bruins defeated the Panthers 5-4 in overtime. (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)

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Boston will be without its captain for a fifth straight game when it hosts the ‘Canes on Thursday.

Zdeno Chara is still nursing a lower-body injury, but there was a positive development this morning as he returned to practice with his teammates.

“He’s out there skating, but he won’t be playing tonight,” B’s head coach Claude Julien said today, per CSNNE. “We’ve hung in there.”

The Bruins are just 1-2-1 without Chara’s services but, defensively, the club has fared reasonably well. Boston has allowed just eight goals over that stretch, which also saw the club lose the services of another veteran blueliner in John-Michael Liles, who is out with a concussion.

As a result, Julien has been rolling with a six-man defensive unit comprised of Torey Krug, Adam McQuaid, Kevan Miller, Brandon Carlo, Joe Morrow and Colin Miller. Krug and Carlo were the big-minute men in Tuesday’s shootout loss to Philly, getting 25:53 and 24:07 of ice time, respectively.

Julien praised his makeshift group for shutting down the Flyers after allowing two first-period markers. Philly had just 11 shots on goal over the second and third periods, and just one in the overtime session.