Zdeno Chara is expected to have his giant hands full over the next couple of weeks as he is charged with neutralizing one of the most electrifying scorers in the NHL. 

The Capitals boast plenty of offensive talent, but it’s no secret that if a team wants to beat Washington, step one is keeping Alexander Ovechkin quiet. 

“The big thing is Chara against Ovechkin,” Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli said. “Chara takes pride in shutting down Ovechkin, so I think obviously you’re going to see that matchup.”

A closer look shows that Chara, who will be paired with Dennis Seidenberg with hopes of recreating the shutdown pairing that won them the Cup last year, truly has (for the most part) shut down Ovechkin. The following numbers might suggest Ovechkin should be more worried about Chara than Chara should be of No. 8. 

In their careers, Chara and Ovechkin have faced each other 24 times, and in those games, Ovechkin has actually outscored Chara no more often than Chara has outscored him -- and Chara isn’t necessarily out there to produce points against Ovechkin. 

Each player has outscored the other seven times each dating back to the 2005-06 season, with Ovechkin’s 27 points against the Senators/Bruins with Chara in the lineup edging the 17 points Chara has produced against the Caps with Ovechkin playing.

Chara has had an even rating or better in 18 of those 24 meetings, with his worst rating vs. Ovechkin and the Capitals coming in the form of a minus-4 on Nov. 5, 2010 last season. Thanks to that contest, one in which Ovechkin had a goal (an empty-netter) and an assist with Chara on the ice, Chara’s career plus-minus against Ovechkin teams is just a plus-1. 

A plus-1 over 24 games doesn’t seem great for a guy who has been a plus-33 in each of the last two seasons, but it isn’t too shabby given the circumstances. Perhaps more telling is the fact that Ovechkin himself has also been a plus-1 against Chara teams. 

Of course, Chara and Ovechkin both being in the lineup against one another doesn’t mean they’re always on the ice against one another. The Bruins have ideally aimed to have Chara on the ice against Ovechkin, but depending on where the game is played, the last line change doesn’t always allow for that. As such, the numbers and minutes that the players have logged when facing each other haven’t necessarily occurred when both have been on the ice. 

Take March 3, 2008, for example. Ovechkin scored a hat trick and added a pair of assists in the Caps’ 10-2 crushing of the Bruins, yet Chara finished the game with an even rating. How? He wasn’t on the ice for any of Ovechkin’s three goals. Even the third one, which came with Washington the man advantage, didn’t come with Chara on the ice. 

When the teams begin their Eastern Conference quarterfinals with games in Boston on Thursday and Saturday, that likely won’t be the case. You can bet that if the Bruins have their druthers, Ovechkin, a four-time 50-goal scorer who had 65 in 2007-08, won’t spend much time on the ice without a 6-foot-9 obstacle in his way. 

“It's something that motivates me,” Chara said Monday. “It's something that ... I enjoy competing against the best players. Obviously they have a few great players on their team. Sometimes the matchups are hard to get, especially on the road, but when you do get them, you want to make the best of them. Overall, I love to compete, I love to work hard against whoever I'm playing against.”

While Chara vs. Ovechkin, is obviously the most important individual matchup of the series, the Bruins will need to quiet more than Ovechkin in order to beat the Capitals. Nicklas Backstrom, who missed 40 games this season with a concussion, is healthy and flashing the skill that made him a 101-point player two seasons ago.

Plus, coach Dale Hunter, who replaced Bruce Boudreau in late November, has gone for more balance with his lines. Backstrom is centering Alexander Semin and Jason Chimera rather than skating on Ovechkin’s line, and on the top line with Ovechkin is center Brooks Laich and right winger Marcus Johansson. That means that even if Chara and Seidenberg shut down the top line, other pairings and the Bruins’ two-way forwards will need to chip in against Washington’s other skilled players. 

“I think it's pretty hard to deny that [Chara will] play against their best players, but at the same time, I really feel like there's a lot more than Ovechkin on that team,” Claude Julien said. “Let's not get caught up in looking at one player. Backstrom is back, Semin can score. … Brooks Laich has been a good player for them as well, and their back end is very good at moving the puck up the ice and then bringing that attack up. So there's a lot of strength on that hockey club, and I feel that the team is playing really well right now, so we're going to be playing against a team that has a lot of confidence heading into the playoffs.”

Said Chara: “They have such a skilled and dangerous team, that there won't be only one guy that you have to worry about, there's going to be a number of guys.”