Bruins captain Zdeno Chara will be out of the lineup Monday night against the Caps, and instead will be right around the corner at Mass General Hospital, undergoing follow-up surgery related to the fractured jaw he sustained last June during the Stanley Cup Final.
According to Chara, 42, his jaw became infected in recent weeks, the result of bacteria festering around the plates and screws that were used to piece the jaw back together months earlier in the playoff series against St. Louis.
Doctors now will remove all the hardware from Chara’s jaw, ideally returning the future Hall-of-Famer to the lineup in full working order as early as Friday night in Buffalo.