from Matt Kalman of the Boston Herald,

After Andrei Markov tripped Chara in the corner of the Canadiens zone, Chara got up and slashed the Montreal defenseman back. With the officials stepping in, Mike Weaver tried to get at the 6-foot-9 Chara, but instead the Canadiens blueliner was on the receiving end of a shove and a right-handed punch from the captain.

When the penalties for both sides were handed out, Chara was called for slashing and roughing.

“Just a battle,” Chara said.

While there was plenty of blame to go around, had Chara battled more during earlier parts of the contest the score might have at least been a bit more respectable. The normally physical Chara finished the night with one hit. When he had a chance to really make a statement and put the body to Max Pacioretty on a breakaway in the second period, Chara instead opened up the toll gate and let the Canadiens forward score his first goal of the series.

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