Injuries two bad for defense

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Bruins could be down two defensemen when they face the Nashville Predators tonight at Bridgestone Arena.

While Claude Julien would not get into specifics of the injury for which Adam McQuaid was being examined, the coach did say the big defenseman stayed overnight in St. Louis for precautionary reasons and was scheduled to meet up with the team yesterday.

McQuaid was involved in a violent collision with the Blues’ Patrick Berglund on Tuesday, taking a blow to his chest that snapped his head back. The team termed it an upper-body injury and he did not return to the game.

McQuaid was not ruled out for tonight’s game, however.

“He’ll continue to be evaluated by our doctors, but obviously he’s doing much better since he’s on his way here. He’ll be looked at again to see how he is, so it’s basically a day-to-day situation,” said Julien as nine of his players took part in a practice at the rink on Music City’s Broadway.

McQuaid has dealt with a number of maladies throughout his career, the most serious of which was a blood clot issue in 2013.

Colin Miller, meanwhile, was termed “very doubtful” for tonight by Julien. He was at the rink and was seen walking around yesterday, which in itself was a blessing. The Blues’ Ryan Reaves — all 6-foot-1, 225 pounds of him — fell hard on Miller’s left knee and it buckled in an ugly fashion. He was able to skate off under his own power and returned to take one shift, but was unable to continue.

If both McQuaid and Miller are out, that would presumably put Joe Morrow and John-Michael Liles back in the lineup. Morrow has been a healthy scratch the last 14 games while Liles has played one game — Sunday’s overtime loss at Carolina — after missing six weeks with a concussion.

New faces

The B’s are hoping to stack another good performance on top of the one they put forth in St. Louis, where they dominated the Blues in a 5-3 win. They scored 12 goals in the first three games of the road trip and are starting to click on the power play, connecting twice against the Blues.

When it comes to this edition of the B’s, Julien said patience is prudent. Of the 20 players in uniform on Tuesday, 10 were either in their first full NHL season or new to the organization.

“Sometimes what you guys are missing is that we’re not a rebuilding team, but we’re a team with a lot of new faces. And to think that all of a sudden we should be clicking on all cylinders is not realistic,” said Julien. “When you have seven players, or maybe even more, that are with our team this year, and the number of guys who are in their first full seasons in the NHL, I guess there’s a building process. Not a rebuilding, but a building process that you have to go through. These guys have to go through that, and there’s pain along the way. We understand the pressure that there is in the Boston area, that they want winning teams. We get that. We have to live with that pressure. The bottom line is that, no matter what pressure is on us, we still have to go through the process.”

Like old days for Z

With McQuaid leaving the game in the first period and Miller missing a chunk of the third, 39-year-old Zdeno Chara had a bit of a throwback game on Tuesday, playing a season-high 28:31 and finishing with a plus-3 and team-high five blocks.

That used to be an every night occasion for him, but Julien has made a concerted effort to cut back on his minutes — for the first time he’s not a regular powerplay participant this year — while Chara is playing more economically when he’s on the ice. So far, it’s translated into a fine season for the captain.

“With age comes experience, with experience comes wisdom and I think in his case, he’s smart enough to manage his ice properly,” said Julien. “(Tuesday), we didn’t have a choice. We were down to four (defensemen) at the end. He’s got the 22-24 minute range and you lose two (defensemen) and, well, there’s those extra four minutes.

“I think he just does a good job of managing his minutes. He moves the puck, he tries to keep his game simple from the back end by making good outlet passes and he defends well. That’s a smart player. To be honest, I’d love to have him on the power play for his shot sometimes. There are times when he’d be a real good threat. Unfortunately, we can’t afford to play him 30 minutes every night. It’s not realistic. We have to pick our poison and we feel we’ve got other guys on the power play, but he’s always an option for us.

“People have different opinions on Zdeno Chara,” Julien added, “but when you have him on your team and you see how well he defends with his long stick . . . When you look at his age and how he’s played, he’s done an outstanding job in keeping himself in great shape and being smart about he he plays.”