Life without Zdeno Chara for the next two months officially starts tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Chara suffered a torn PCL in his left knee Thursday night during a 3-2 loss to the Islanders.

Saturday will be a big test for the Boston Bruins, and more importantly for their defense. Players like Dennis Seidenberg, Torey Krug, Dougie Hamilton and Adam McQuaid must step up. Nobody on the Black and Gold or even in the league can replicate Chara’s presence on the ice, but collectively they can come close by sticking to their system, having no breakdowns and being physical in their own end.

The Bruins will look to get back on track yet again and creep to the .500 mark tonight at the Air Canada Centre. The B’s have won 11 out of the last 14 regular season games against the Maple Leafs including a split of four games last season.

Here is your Bruins Daily Game day preview:

Game day details:

Time: 7:00 PM
Network: NESN/98.5 The Sports Hub
Records: Bruins 4-5-0, 8 points/Maple Leafs 3-3-1, 7 points
Location: Air Canada Centre

Bruins’ projected lines:

Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Seth Griffith
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Reilly Smith
Chris Kelly-Carl Soderberg-Loui Eriksson
Daniel Paille-Gregory Campbell-Simon Gagne

Dennis Seidenberg-Dougie Hamilton
Torey Krug-Adam McQuaid
Matt Bartkowski-Zach Trotman

Tuukka Rask
Niklas Svedberg

Maple Leafs projected lines:

James van Riemsdyk-Tyler Bozak-Phil Kessel
Joffrey Lupul-Nazem Kadri-Daniel Winnik
Leo Komarov-Mike Santorelli-David Clarkson
Richard Panik-Peter Holland-Morgan Rielly

Dion Phaneuf-Cody Franson
Stuart Percy-Roman Polak
Jake Gardiner-Stephane Robidas

Jonathan Bernier
James Reimer

Who to watch for Bruins: Dennis Seidenberg

With Chara out, work horse Dennis Seidenberg will likely pick up more minutes. Seidenberg is also coming off a serious knee injury (torn ACL) and has looked slow at times, but will most likely shift to the number one defensive pairing along with Dougie Hamilton. The more Seidenberg plays this season, the more comfortable he will be coming off his injury. That’s nothing to worry about, yet.

The German defenseman was playing around 20 minutes per game leading up to Thursday’s tilt with the Islanders, but after Chara departed, he played 24 plus minutes. He is not like Chara because no one really is. Chara plays in front of the net on the power-play and he is a key contributor on the penalty kill. It’s possible Seidenberg’s role on both special teams will be on the rise.

Who to watch for Maple Leafs: Phil Kessel

The Bruins know Phil Kessel can play. They may have traded him, but that was just the nature of the business as we saw with Johnny Boychuk.

Kessel is off to another fast start with eight points (4G, 4A) in seven games. His speed could give the Black and Gold trouble especially without their leader on the blue line.

In 26 career games against the Bruins, Kessel has three goals and 11 assists with an astonishing minus-22 rating. They may not be great numbers, but Kessel is always a threat while on the ice especially against a defensively challenged team at the moment. Coming off a three-point effort against the Islanders with a plus-3 rating, Bruins’ defensemen must be physical with the 27 year-old forward.

Game day edge: Don’t feel sorry for yourselves, go out and get two points

Nobody in the league is going to feel sorry for the B’s and their loss of Chara. It is a tough blow for one of the most important players on a Stanley Cup contending team. Players like Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Dennis Seidenberg and Tuukka Rask must lead the Black and Gold in the locker room and on the ice.

“We’re going to miss him, but that being said, we need to do the job with the guys that we have and we believe in the guys that we have,” Bergeron said Friday afternoon before departing for Toronto.

Chara is irreplaceable, but the Black and Gold have more than enough talent to keep their head above water until “Big Zee” comes back.