In both a figurative and literal sense, Zdeno Chara’s absence is a big deal.

In their first game without their 6-foot-9 captain who is nursing a lower body injury, the Bruins were outmatched against the Senators falling 3-1 on Thanksgiving night. Here is what we learned as the Black and Gold dropped two straight for the first time since October.

Costly turnovers in third

Seemingly, the tryptophan started to kick in during the third period for the Black and Gold. On a night where they struggled to generate scoring chances with just 20 shots on goal, the Bruins did themselves in during the final stanza with a couple of bad turnovers.

The first mistake came off the stick of Torey Krug, who skated in the first defensive unit with Adam McQuaid in Chara’s absence. In a failed attempt by Krug to clear the puck, Chris Wideman took possession of the puck and fired it towards the net that deflected off a Bruins player for the go-ahead goal at 6:28.

Just 3:48 after Wideman’s tally a David Krejci turnover in the Bruins offensive end turned into a two-goal deficit when Kyle Turris finished a give-and-go from Bobby Ryan at 10:16.

Although they were credited with nine takeaways to Ottawa’s thirteen, the Bruins were clearly having problems possessing the puck. That all came back to haunt them in the third period as the Sens were finding ways through traffic and getting quality chances on Tuukka Rask.

Pastrnak scores in first game back

In his first game back from an upper body injury, David Pastrnak picked up right where he left off. The 20-year-old tallied his 11th of the season to put the Bruins ahead 1-0 with his spin-o-rama power play goal at 19:49 of the first.

.@pastrnak96 is back. pic.twitter.com/iZRjSrLuzc

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) November 25, 2016

Like the rest of the team, however, Pastrnak couldn’t generate many scoring chances as his lone tally was also his only shot on goal for the evening. Whether it was to find space against Guy Boucher’s 1-3-1 system or failing to transition the puck up ice quickly, Pastrnak and the rest of the Bruins didn’t do enough to establish quality zone time in the offensive end.

Miller also returns

Though he improved during the second half of the season, Kevan Miller was a punching bag for many Bruins fans last year who were frustrated with his performance. On Thursday, Miller made his season debut after missing the first 19 games with a hand injury.

In 16:50 of ice time, Miller delivered three hits, two blocked shots and a shot on goal. Miller along with fellow defensive partner Joe Morrow were the only two Bruins blue-liners not credited with a giveaway, but the two were on the ice when the Senators tied the game after Morrow allowed Mark Stone an easy entry on Rask off a feed from Mike Hoffman.

An update on Chara’s status Friday

Though nothing has been confirmed, don’t expect Chara to play Friday night against the Flames. Per Wednesday’s press release where they announced that he would not travel with the team to Ottawa, the Bruins are expected to have more on Chara’s status going forward prior to the team’s “Black Friday” matchup. To state the obvious, the Bruins can’t afford to lose their captain for any significant time and Thursday’s game against the Sens proved just that.