BOSTON -- When Boston was rocked by bombings at the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013, the Bruins and their fans received unconditional support from the NHL and the other 29 teams. Now, the Bruins will return that favor.

On Wednesday, a gunman entered the Parliament area in Canada’s capitol city of Ottawa and killed one solider and injured another person. The Senators were scheduled to host the Toronto Maple Leafs Wednesday night, but the game was postponed.

The tragedy in Ottawa hit close to home for members of the Bruins. Coach Claude Julien is a native of Ottawa, while Zdeno Chara and Chris Kelly both played for the Senators.

“It was very shocking, especially for that area. It’s a capitol city but it’s fairly quiet and not a busy area, so to see something like that happening is very shocking, very surprising,” Chara said. “Obviously, you’re feeling for everybody in the city and in the country. I know when it happened here we received so much support from everywhere around the league, across the country and around the world, so for sure it’s something we’re thinking about and people in Ottawa and Canada are in our thoughts and prayers.”

Julien said Wednesday’s situation in Ottawa was unsettling.

“Ottawa is home for me so I spent a good portion of the afternoon looking up at the CNN station and trying to find out as much as I could,” he said. “It’s unfortunate. It just goes to show that these tragedies don’t just happen in the USA, but also in other countries and there’s other countries in Europe that have been faced with that. It’s unfortunate but this is the life that we’re facing right now and these are the things that we should all be aware that is out there and we have to be vigilant and we have to be on our toes and pay attention to what’s around us.”

Added Julien, “Every city rallies around its own city and I’ve talked to a few people, including my family that’s still back there. My parents and brothers and sisters, it’s affected them even if they weren’t around that area. It affects the whole city like the bombing affected us here. They’ll have to get used to it in a way where that’s reality, unfortunately, and it’s happening. Again, Ottawa is a pretty -- or Canada is a pretty laid back country that tries to continue to be laid back. But it’s also a country that supported the U.S. in some of its decisions and more than likely those are the consequences that it faces because of that.”

Chara has friends in Ottawa and he spoke with a few of them Wednesday night. Kelly also made calls to friends to make sure everyone was OK, and he paid close attention to the news to remain updated.

He also read a story Thursday in the Ottawa Sun that quoted Chara, saying the Senators have an opportunity to help the city.

“That’s how we felt when that tragedy happened here in Boston,” Kelly said. “Obviously, when you’re part of the community it affects you even more so. That was a sad day in Ottawa and I hope that the team can help the community and I’m sure they will.”

On the day of the attack in Boston, Marathon Monday, the Bruins were scheduled to face the Ottawa Senators at TD Garden, but the game was postponed.

The Bruins had another game postponed that Friday, the day the city shut down while the manhunt for the suspects continued. After one suspect was killed and the other captured late Friday night in Watertown, Mass., the decision was made that the Bruins would play on Saturday.

Prior to the game against the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins, players on both teams wore “Boston Strong” T-shirts and hats that honored the State Police as well as the Boston and Watertown police departments.

“It was extremely emotional,” Kelly said. “When that happened, we’re a part of this city just as much as everyone else is. All of us live in the city and it was something we’ll never forget, something unfortunately we were a part of, but as a hockey team you try to help in any way you can and we wanted to just help, just like everyone else wanted to help. The main thing I took from that was people were just willing to help and help one another. To see such a tragedy, so many good things came out of it."

The Bruins, like many other teams around the league, will honor Canada by playing the Canadian national anthem prior to tonight’s game against the New York Islanders.