Chara's birthday wish is continued improvement

WILMINGTON - Zdeno Chara is usually the designated shadow for Alex Ovechkin, but on Sunday, he turned the task over to his teammates, who limited the Washington winger to five shots while blocking six attempts, holding him without a point for the first time in nine games.

"Obviously you'd like to be playing," said Chara, who sat out his fifth straight game because of an upper-body injury. "It's not fun to be on the sideline. It's nerve-racking, for sure. You'd like to be out there to help the guys. At the same time, guys played well. All the guys really stepped up and played well."

The Bruins lost a 2-1 shootout decision to the Capitals, but in back-to-back games against Washington and Philadelphia, they collected 3 of 4 possible points - a hoped-for total without their captain.

"Those 2 points against Philly [Saturday] were huge," said Chara. "[Sunday] I thought the guys really battled hard. They played with lots of desperation for 60 minutes."

The Bruins might not be missing their captain for much longer. The regulars had a day off yesterday, but Chara made it through an on-ice session led by assistant coach Doug Houda at Ristuccia Arena, and said it's likely that he'll practice with his teammates today.

Chara had more power behind his wrist shots yesterday than he did last week. The slap shots he took were only weak half-slappers, and he didn't engage in any contact with the other Bruins on the ice (Andrew Alberts, Patrice Bergeron, Peter Schaefer, Vladimir Sobotka, Petteri Nokelainen, and Manny Fernandez).

While Chara has used his 65-inch stick as effectively as ever this season to shut down passing lanes and poke pucks away from opposing forwards, his defensive game is centered on physical, lean-on-your-opponent play. He has not performed any battle drills since suffering the injury against Washington March 8.

"I think it's getting better," said Chara, who turns 31 today. "I'm feeling, when I'm skating, that it's getting better. We'll see how it is [today]. Hopefully there are no setbacks. Just keep moving forward. Still day-to-day and see how it feels."

The Bruins are 1-2-0-2 without Chara, allowing 10 goals during his five-game absence. The next game is Thursday at TD Banknorth Garden against Montreal. The Canadiens have scored 32 goals in six previous wins over the Bruins this season.

"I don't think anybody, at this point, is 100 percent," said Chara when asked if he needs to be 100 percent healthy to play Thursday. "As long as I feel that it's good enough to be playing, I'll be playing."

Holding pattern

In all likelihood, Chara will return to the lineup before Alberts. The rugged defenseman, out since Dec. 15, is still experiencing headaches following his workouts. Alberts had gone two consecutive days without headaches last week, but they have since returned. Alberts has been told that he must be headache-free for one week before he can be cleared for full-contact practice.

"Nothing's changed," said Alberts following his on-ice session yesterday. "I'm in a holding pattern."

Alberts plans to continue his skating and conditioning work in hopes that the headaches will go away. He said the most frustrating part about his condition is that he would consider himself ready for full practice if he weren't experiencing headaches.

"You feel like you're in shape to practice and you can do all the drills and everything," said Alberts. "But your mind won't let you do it."

Getting closer

Bergeron will most likely miss today's practice because of a doctor's appointment. But Bergeron, who had another symptom-free spin on the ice, said he feels ready to practice with his teammates, although he can't take part in contact drills. Bergeron complained of burning lungs after Houda ran him through a challenging drill yesterday, but said he feels nothing related to his concussion. "We're in the hunt right now, so it's tough to watch knowing I won't be able to help," said Bergeron. "But the guys are doing a good job to get into the playoffs and giving me hope still." . . . Goaltending coach Bob Essensa spent the day working with Fernandez. For Fernandez, yesterday was about seeing a high number of pucks to jack up his cardiovascular work. Fernandez said that other than some stiffness in his back, he feels fine and his left knee is pain-free . . . Schaefer, a healthy scratch the last two games, busted a pane of glass with a shot . . . Marc Savard spent part of his off-day skating with his two sons at Ristuccia . . . Andrew Ference turned 29 yesterday . . . The Bruins will play Buffalo March 30 at 6 p.m. on NESN. The game had been under consideration by NBC, but the network announced yesterday that it will air Pittsburgh vs. the Rangers that day at 12:30 p.m.

Fluto Shinzawa can be reached at fshinzawa@globe.com