Bergy sent home, Chara out at least month

GLENDALE, Ariz. — With the way the Bruins season is going, it is best not to expect good news when it comes to injuries. They certainly didn’t receive any yesterday. BRUINS NOTEBOOK First, the B’s announced defenseman Zdeno Chara will be out at least a month with an injury to his left medial collateral ligament. The 41year-old captain will be reevaluated then, according to the team. Second, if having their best defenseman on the shelf wasn’t enough, the B’s were also without their best forward. Patrice Bergeron returned to Boston to be evaluated by the team’s medical staff. The club announced it as an upper body injury, but his left shoulder appeared to take the impact when Radek Faksa ran him into the boards in the second period of the B’s 1-0 overtime loss to the Dallas Stars on Friday. Bergeron tried to come back and play but was very limited, tending to the discomfort in the shoulder area a couple of times while he was on the bench. “These are the guys you miss after you haven’t won a couple of games. They usually get the message out that today’s a game where you have to be extra focused and detail-oriented,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. John Moore, who’d been dealing with a lower body injury, also went back to Boston to be re-evaluated, leaving the B’s without five of their six opening night defensemen for last night’s game against the Coyotes. While there are no prognoses for Bergeron or Moore, the fact they were sent home in the middle of a four-game road trip suggests the training staff fears the injuries are more significant than the day-to-day variety. Regarding the loss of Chara, no one on the roster is going to morph into a 6-foot-9 Future Hall of Fame defender. And no one should try. “No one’s going to replicate what Zdeno does,” said defenseman Torey Krug. “We’ve been facing injuries all season so it’s that nextman-up mentality. Obviously, we don’t need any super heroes out there. Everyone just does their job, just do it a little better. We’re not expecting anyone to jump in and do anything ridiculous.” Positive signs While there were a few high-wire moments vs. Dallas, the youthful defense held up pretty well with three rookies in the lineup, two of whom (Connor Clifton and Jakub Zboril) were making their NHL debuts while the third (Jeremy Lauzon) was playing in his seventh NHL game. “We were good. I thought guys competed hard,” Krug said. “That’s the first thing that you ask of guys, especially coming into a situation that they’re probably not comfortable with, just compete hard on pucks and we’ll live and die with the mistakes that we make playing hard. Guys came in and did a good job. It was a good first game for a couple of guys and other guys stepping up with bigger responsibilities did a great job.” Krug was paired with the energetic Clifton most of the night. “He was great,” Krug said. “It was fun playing with him, to be honest. He competes like crazy, wins a lot of battles in the corners and that’s what you want out of the (defense) partner.” Forward thinking With Bergeron out, it was all hands on deck with the forward lines as Chris Wagner drew back in. Noel Acciari, who had been scratched three straight games before Friday, came back to the lineup with some energy . . . . With the B’s lacking size right now, Cassidy felt the Stars took some liberties “I did, a little bit,” he said. “Just look at a guy like (Roman) Polak. We played him 10 times last year with Toronto and I don’t remember him being that aggressive. I know he’s a hard player but . . . Maybe some other guys as well. Some of that is teams look around and see Z is out the lineup, Kevan Miller’s out of the lineup. That’s where other guys have to grow into those roles a little bit more.”