What a story it would have been.
You just won Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final and done so on home ice. You take your picture with the Stanley Cup and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. Then, broken jaw in all, you raise the Stanley Cup as high as it’s been raised only once before, when you did it in 2011.
Zdeno Chara is once again a Stanley Cup champion.
But stories and dreams don’t always go to plan, and that’s the reality of things for Chara and the rest of the 2018-19 Boston Bruins.
There was no Game 7 victory on home ice, there was no picture and there certainly was no skate around the Boston ice with the Stanley Cup.
Instead, it was a bitter defeat and an everlasting pain.
On Friday the Bruins cleaned out their lockers, said their goodbyes and spoke to the media one last time before their short summer break.
When the Bruins captain met with the media on Friday, the 42-year old Chara confirmed what we already knew: he fractured his jaw after taking a deflected puck to the face in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final.
“Yeah, got multiple fractures and it's been, obviously, reinforced with two plates and, you know, some wires and screws,” Chara said of his jaw.
Chara took a puck to the jaw in the second period of Game 4 before returning to the bench for the third period, but Chara never got back into the game.
After surgery to reinforce his jaw, Chara was able to play in the remaining three games of the series where he played with a full shield to protect his jaw.
Chara credits the unbelievable effort by the doctors to get his jaw stable enough in time for him to return to Game 5.
“It was just an amazing job. They were able to put together [a plan] in a quick turnaround of 36 hours from the end of the game and the beginning of Game 5,” Chara added “It's one of those things that I think I'm able to tolerate pain.”
Chara admitted he wanted to return to the game in Game 4, but the doctors would not allow him. He also admitted that had the Bruins lost another defenseman or two, he would have returned to the game despite the doctors’ orders.
Full recovery is expected in five-to-six weeks.
Chara took to Instagram on Sunday to thank the Bruins fans for “overwhelming cheers and applause.”
Hockey players always make sacrifices, especially the further you get in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the closer you get to achieving your ultimate goal.
Playing through groin injuries, or hand injuries, or even shoulder injuries is one thing. But playing in a series that was as physical as the one with the Blues with a broken jaw is something different.
That’s what makes this loss for Chara sting worse than any previous loss before. His injury, combined with the fact that he’s 42 and this very well may have been Chara’s last chance at a Stanley Cup makes this one hurt even more.
Chara will be back in Boston next season after signing a one-year extension earlier this season. But for a guy who will be 43 in March, and has the mileage on his body that Chara does, next season, his 22nd, very well may be his last.
Hopefully it’s not his last crack at getting his name on the Stanley Cup for a second time.
Boston Bruins Blogger • 
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