Boston Bruins (4-5-0) at Toronto Maple Leafs (3-3-1), 7 p.m. (ET)
(SportsNetwork.com) - The Boston Bruins will try to get by without captain Zdeno Chara when they visit the Toronto Maple Leafs for Saturday's Atlantic Division battle at Air Canada Centre.
Chara suffered a torn posterior cruciate ligament in the first period of Thursday's loss against the New York Islanders and will be sidelined for the next 4-to-6 weeks. For now, the Bruins don't believe surgery will be required.
"It's obviously a blow," said Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli on Friday. "He's one of the premier defensemen in the league, but I'd rather have it 4-to-6 weeks than 4-to-6 months."
Boston's star blueliner was hurt while delivering a hit to Islanders forward John Tavares. Chara has two goals and an assist through nine games this season, his ninth with the Bruins. The 37-year-old captain has been durable throughout his tenure in Boston, missing no more than five games in any of his previous eight seasons.
Bruins head coach Claude Julien expects to lean heavily on defensemen Dougie Hamilton, Torey Krug and Dennis Seidenberg during Chara's absence. The team also recalled untested blueliners Joe Morrow and Zach Trotman from its American Hockey League affiliate in Providence. Trotman broke into the NHL with two games last season, while Morrow, a former first-round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2011, has yet to play at the top level of professional hockey.
Boston flunked its first test without Chara, giving up two goals in the first 10 minutes of the second period to allow New York to grab a 3-1 lead. The Bruins played well after that, but the damage was already done as the Isles wound up claiming a 3-2 victory.
"You can't win hockey games just by playing a period," Julien said.
Former Bruins goaltender Chad Johnson returned to TD Garden and won Thursday's game. Johnson, who served as Tuukka Rask's backup last season, made 14 of his 30 saves in the third period. Johnny Boychuk also returned to Boston for the first time since being traded to the Islanders on Oct. 4.
Milan Lucic and Chris Kelly had the goals for Boston, which fell to 4-5-0 on the season after being denied its third straight win. Niklas Svedberg, who has replaced Johnson as Rask's backup, stopped 35-of-38 shots.
Toronto hopes to open the 2014-15 season series against the Bruins by picking up its third straight regular-season victory over Boston. However, the B's have claimed 11 of the past 14 meetings and the Leafs have dropped five of their last seven home games versus Boston.
The Maple Leafs did earn a victory their last time out, halting a two-game slide with Tuesday's 5-2 triumph over the Islanders. Toronto was scheduled to play the following night in Ottawa, but that game was postponed until Nov. 9 after a shooting Wednesday morning in Canada's capital city. The game was called off after a Canadian soldier standing guard at the National War Memorial in downtown Ottawa was shot and killed.
The Leafs, Senators and Montreal Canadiens will all stage coordinated tributes tonight prior to the start of their respective home games.
Phil Kessel scored twice during a four-goal outburst in the second period of Tuesday's win. Kessel, who also posted an assist, has four goals and four helpers this season and snapped a two-game point drought in the victory over New York.
James van Riemsdyk, Roman Polak and David Clarkson also scored, while Jonathan Bernier had 34 saves to record the win. Bernier stopped 24 shots over the last two periods after giving up two goals in the first.
"Bernie played well in net for us and we were able to get some goals for him," said Kessel.
Bernier is 1-2-0 with a 4.29 goals against average in four career games against Boston, while fellow Toronto netminder James Reimer is 5-5-1 with a 2.71 GAA in 11 tests versus the Bruins.
Rask boasts a lifetime 9-2-0 mark and 1.64 GAA in 13 appearances in this matchup.