(UPDATE: Chara’s status for Game 5 unclear; Grzelcyk skates)
Boston Bruins defender Zdeno Chara had to exit Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday night after being hit in the face and bloodied by a Brayden Schenn shot in the second period of his team’s 4-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues.
He spent the entire third period seated on the bench in a full face shield but did not return to the game with an undisclosed injury.
On Tuesday, word is starting to leak out as to what that injury might be.
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According to multiple reports, including WEEi’s Christian Fauria (who first reported it) and the Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford, Chara suffered a broken jaw on the play.
His status for Game 5 and the remainder of the series is obviously in doubt, and when combined with the injury to Matt Grzlecyk it is entirely possible that the Bruins could be without two of their top-five defenders for a pivotal game in the series.
The Bruins have not officially updated Chara’s status or confirmed what exactly the injury is, but coach Bruce Cassidy acknowledged on Tuesday it is possible his team could be without both injured players and that they may consider dressing seven defenders to make up for it.
Game 5 of Blues-Bruins is Thursday night at 8 p.m. ET on NBC from TD Garden in Boston
MORE BLUES-BRUINS:
• Looking at Bruins’ potential defense options for Game 5
• Blues even Stanley Cup Final in Game 4
• Bruins confident they can overcome injuries
• Chara’s status for Game 5 unknown
• Chara bloodied after taking puck to face
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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.