Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara left Saturday's game against Columbus late in the second period with a lower-body injury and did not return. The extent of the injury was not known immediately after the game.
"Right now he's being evaluated," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "I don't know how serious it is. All I was told was that he wouldn't come back in the third and that he had a lower-body injury."
Chara got tangled up with Columbus forward Antoine Vermette with about six minutes left in the middle period, and his left knee appeared to bend awkwardly as they made contact. Chara went down to the ice but was able to make it to the bench before heading to the locker room. He didn't return for the third period of the Bruins' 5-3 victory at Nationwide Arena.
"I guess we'll evaluate him in the next day or so and find out whether it's minor or if it's more serious," Julien said.
Chara leads Boston's defensemen in goals (six, including one on Saturday), assists (13) and points (19), and was averaging 25:13 of ice time entering the game.
