ST. LOUIS — Zdeno Chara assisted on the first Bruins goal of Game 4, but needed medical assistance early in the second period.
At 3:07 of the period, the Bruins captain was leaking from the nose and mouth after taking a puck to the jaw.
Brayden Schenn’s wrister rode up the Redwood-sized stick of Chara, appearing to rattle the right side of his mouth. Chara’s blood spilled onto the ice, and he went to the dressing room for repairs, showing no visible emotion as he skated off.
Chara returned for the third period and was on the bench wearing a bubble shield. He missed 16 minutes and 57 seconds of action in the second period, and sat on the bench the entire third period. The only time he got on the ice was during a timeout to cheer on his teammates.
The Bruins, who in the first period moved rookie Connor Clifton to Chara’s right side and put his usual partner, Charlie McAvoy, with John Moore, went with a Moore-McAvoy pair on the next shift.
They had not juggled five defensemen since Game 1, when Matt Grzelcyk left 4:29 in after taking an Oskar Sundqvist hit to his head.
Follow Matt Porter on Twitter at @mattyports