The Boston Bruins knew they’d be missing Zdeno Chara for a little while following his left knee injury sustained in a hit with former teammate Carl Soderberg Wednesday night in Colorado. Now they know the timetable.

Mere hours after the Bruins’ first game without their captain in Dallas, The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa reported that the 6-foot-9 defenseman will miss the next 4-6 weeks. With a shorthanded and inexperienced back end — that included a pair of NHL debuts with Jakub Zboril and Connor Clifton — the B’s managed a gutsy effort and notched an improbable point against Tyler Seguin and the Stars.

Chara joined Charlie McAvoy (concussion), Kevan Miller (hand), Brandon Carlo (upper body), John Moore (lower body) and Urho Vaakanainen (concussion) on the injured list. The five defensemen have a combined 2,444 regular season games under their belt, including Chara’s 1,441.

The Bruins’ current defensive unit — Torey Krug, Matt Grzelcyk, Steven Kampfer, Jeremy Lauzon, Zboril and Clifton — entered Friday’s game with only 667 combined career games. Only Krug and Kampfer skated in over 100 contests out of that bunch.

Could be a knee injury for Zdeno Chara, this doesn’t look good (will not return tonight) #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/H9urtRFWny

— Marina Molnar (@mkmolnar) November 15, 2018

The Bruins will have some help soon as Miller could return as soon as Wednesday in Detroit for the team’s road trip finale. McAvoy and Vaakanainen are a little further away, but both resumed skating activities before the B’s departed for Denver on Tuesday. Carlo, who missed the last three games, is the lone aforementioned defenseman yet to resume skating activities.

As if things aren’t bad enough, the Bruins aren’t sure whether if they’ll have Patrice Bergeron for Saturday’s game in Arizona. The four-time Selke winner fought through noticeable pain following Radek Faska’s reckless hit during the second period Friday night.

Bruce Cassidy’s squad made an improbable task a reality less than 24 hours ago. Getting points while battling injuries will be a significant accomplishment during this tough stretch.

A clean bill of health, though, is Cassidy’s top resolution as we approach the new year.