The script was perfect. Local star leader plays with injury, endures unspeakable pain, yet paces his team to victory.
There was that night in the Bronx when Curt Schilling bled into his sock because of a surgically repaired tendon and beat the Yankees in the American League Championship Series. And then there was that time Larry Bird slammed his head on the parquet floor of the Old Garden, went to the locker room, and returned to torch the Indiana Pacers in a playoff game. Oh, and let’s not forget Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe beating the Dolphins despite playing with a metal pin sticking out of the index finger of his throwing hand.
Not Thursday night in the Stanley Cup Final. With 42-year-old captain Zdeno Chara playing with what might be a broken jaw, the Bruins lost the crucial fifth game, 2-1, at the heavy hands of the St. Louis Blues. Boston trails in the series, 3-2, and plays Game 6 Sunday night in St. Louis.
Making things worse, and all the more galling, this was a game in which the Bruins were frustrated offensively for the full 60 minutes and got no help from the zebras who seem intent on allowing the Blues to get away with all form of mayhem. The low moment for the Bruins and their fans came midway through the final period when David Perron gave St. Louis a 2-0 lead after Noel Acciari was victim of a slew foot from Tyler Bozak.
“Their player was on his way to the box,’’ said disgusted Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy. “It was right there. It was blatant . . . We thought we got [expletive] screwed . . . The National Hockey League is getting a black eye . . . It was egregious.
“What was being said on the bench was, ‘You’re missing [expletive] calls!’ That’s what was being said. You’re in the moment, of course you’re upset . . . ”
It’ll be hard to un-see the image of Bruins boss Cam Neely flinging his water bottle in his ninth-floor suite after that one. Boston hadn’t felt this violated since umpire Larry Barnett helped the Reds win the 1975 World Series by not calling interference on Ed Armbrister. Suddenly, New England fans know how folks in New Orleans felt after the non-call pass interference in the NFC Championship game.
Jake DeBrusk cut the Blues’ lead to 2-1 with 6:28 left, but the Bruins could not score another. They go to St. Louis with steam coming off the tops of their heads.
Too bad. The Chara story was such a perfect metaphor for hockey . . . right up until the Bruins lost the game.
Wearing a customized helmet fitted with a plastic cage covering his mouth and jaw, Chara receivered a thunderous ovation before the national anthem. His face did not move. One wondered if his face could move. After the anthem, he took his starting spot alongside fellow defenseman Charlie McAvoy. Charlestown’s Matt Grzelcyk, who was concussed in Game 2, had not cleared the league’s concussion protocol and remained sidelined.
The Bruins dominated the first period, outshooting the Blues, 17-6, but neither team scored. Chara had a reduced workload with 5 minutes 55 seconds of ice time over 11 shifts.
Chara was on the ice, behind the net, when the Blues scored to start the second. Evidently, it’s hard to handle the puck when you are not accustomed to playing with a full mask.
Late non-call stole the show in Bruins’ Game 6 loss
Hub hockey krishnas still talk of Gregory Campbell’s excruciating play during the 2013 playoffs when he staggered to his feet and finished his shift after a slap shot broke his leg. When those playoffs ended, we learned that Bruins veteran Patrice Bergeron played in the Final against the Blackhawks with a broken rib, a punctured lung, and a separated shoulder.
It’s the hockey thing to do.
Jeremy Roenick, a Boston kid who grew up to be an NHL star (20 seasons) and now serves as an NBC commentator, played with a broken jaw during the 1999 playoffs.
“Breathing is really the hardest part,’’ Roenick said. “You don’t skate with your face. You don’t shoot the puck with your face. Your face will heal when your career is over. Pain goes away, pride is forever.’’
Chara was injured early in the second period of Boston’s Game 4 loss in St. Louis on Monday. A point-blank shot off the stick of Blues forward Brayden Schenn struck Chara’s stick, then deflected into his face. Chara fell face first onto the playing surface and when he got to his feet there was a pool of blood on the ice. Chara went straight to the locker room but came back and watched the third period from the bench with his teammates.
Rumors flew through the sports talk airwaves over the next couple of days. Chara was not at Wednesday’s practice and it was reported that he had a broken jaw and would not play. But there was nothing official.
Unable to speak easily, even though he is fluent in six languages, Chara scribbled some answers when Bruins PR folks asked him questions on Thursday afternoon.
“At this time of the playoffs, everyone has injuries and there are challenges that you have to overcome to play,’’ Chara wrote. “I’m no different than any player on either team. You don’t think about [further injury], you think about playing. You don’t go into a game thinking you might get hurt.’’
The message was delivered to Bruins fans on the big scoreboard before the start.
As if that was not enough drama, we had Bruins legends Bobby Orr and Derek Sanderson serving as honorary banner captains with Special Olympian Missie Kennedy.
The banner went from Orr to Sanderson back to Orr — which was the ultimate give-and-go play that won the Cup against this same team 49 years ago.
But the magic sauce did not carry over into the game. Despite the return of the legends and the grit of the ancient captain, the Bruins were 2-1 losers.
And mad at the officials.
A painful night all around.
Dan Shaughnessy can be reached at dshaughnessy@globe.com