It’s been like waiting for the Leaning Tower of Pisa to fall. It’s going to tip over at some point, right?

Just like, at some point, Zdeno Chara is no longer going to be playing up to the standard that has made him a generational defenseman.

That point seemed to be this season, when he struggled with injuries early on. When he did come back, the 37-year-old looked slow and hobbled.

But did ya happen to catch Wednesday night’s Penguins-Bruins game on national television? (Insert “Rivalry Night” joke here.) Chara played a team-high 24:30, and it seemed like he never left the ice. It seemed like the halcyon days of 2011 — whenever someone had a good scoring opportunity against the Bruins, Chara would swoop in from wherever he was and extend his 27-foot-long stick and knock the puck into the corner. He also scored a goal, though that has never really mattered all that much to the 6-foot-9 behemoth.

When he was out, from Oct. 25 through Dec. 6, the Bruins went 11-7-1. That included a five-game winning streak, which was by way of bottom-feeding — at Buffalo, then sweeping a four-game homestand against the Senators, Panthers, Oilers and Devils. Just before Chara returned on Dec. 11, the Bruins had a run of 2-4-1, and looked totally out of sorts.

The Spoked-B went into the Penguins game having lost three overtimes games in a row, two of them in a shootout. It got goalie Tuukka Rask to suggest drinking beer before the games to loosen up.

(Holy John Lackey, guess he doesn’t follow baseball all that closely — that, or he lives under a rock in Boston Harbor.)

So were the losses that terrible? Maybe not. But it got the attention of new CEO Charlie Jacobs, son of the owner, Jeremy.

“For us to be a team that’s out of the playoffs is absolutely unacceptable,” Jacobs told reporters on Tuesday. “Everybody in the executive offices is fully aware of how I feel.

“They feel the same way, which brings us to this evaluation process. It’s fluid right now. I can’t say that any moment we have a final decision, other than to say it’s been another disappointment and a failure. A complete failure.”

Whoa.

After that little speech, the B’s went out and beat the Penguins in overtime — a sweet tip from Patrice Bergeron, still at the top of his game — then beat up on the Devils at home on Thursday, when the slumbering Milan Lucic scored twice. The two wins got them to 21-15-6. Their 48 points are good only for fourth in the Atlantic behind the Lightning, Canadiens and Red Wings, but it did get them into the second wild-card slot.

So were Jacobs’ words that inspiring? (Just as his father’s words were so inspiring as to be fuel on the fire that canceled half of the 2012-13 season?)

“I think so,” Lucic told the Boston Globe, as speculation about his future in Boston swirled — he has one year after this one left on his contract with a $6 million cap hit.

“We’re still right there as far as the standings go, and no one’s going to do it for us. We have to do it as individuals and as a team. We’ve got to start bringing it, and, like I said before last game, enough with the talking. It’s time to start playing the way that we can.”

Lucic has admitted disappointment in his own game, with just eight goals and 14 assists through the first 41 games. Brad Marchand has 11 goals and 12 assists, and got himself into a little tussle with second-year defenseman Torey Krug at practice on Tuesday, just before Charlie Jacobs spoke.

“Who knows?” Krug said. “Maybe this is what our teams needs a little bit.”

No, what they need is their leader, The Big Z, to pick them up on his broad shoulders and carry them, just as he has for the past decade. Since signing with Boston as a free agent in 2006 — do we have to mention the Islanders drafted him, and traded him and a first-round pick that would be Jason Spezza to the Senators for, gulp, Alexei Yashin? — Chara hasn’t played fewer than 77 games in a full season. He has a plus-2 rating through his first 23 games, and hasn’t finished a season since 2007 at any lower than plus-14.

Eventually, that big frame is going to start breaking down. He was never the fastest guy, but soon he’s going to be too slow to keep up. Soon, the tower is going to fall. The Bruins are just hoping it’s not this year.

Why the faith in Toronto?

I get the chaos around the Leafs, I do. I’d like to say they deal with Yankees-like pressure, but the Yankees have pressure from winning. The Leafs live in a big, demanding market, but haven’t won since 1967. Any expectation for winning is delusional.

So now they fire coach Randy Carlye, because why? He wouldn’t change his style? Come on. He was being painted as a Bronze Age curmudgeon, who only began embracing analytics (ugh, enough already) this season. Maybe it’s true the players stopped listening to him, but he was fired because it’s a lot easier to fire one guy than it is the whole group of players who are underachieving and just frankly not trying hard enough. They welcomed interim head coach Peter Horachek to the bench by getting hammered by the Capitals, 6-2, on Wednesday night.

But the start of cleaning house seems to bring with it this certain stripe of optimism. Has team president Brendan Shanahan done this before, and succeeded, and that’s what gives people confidence he can accomplish it in this pressure-cooker situation? (Answer: No.) How does anyone have any idea if it’s going to work out? (They don’t.) Just because you stink, and instead of trying to immediately get better you think long-term — well, that doesn’t always work. May we look West, to Edmonton? How’s that rebuild going? Or how about to Colorado, where a rebuild looked good for one season, and now they’re back in disarray?

Maybe Shanny can do it. Maybe he can’t. But there is Toronto, yet again declaring failure before the final results are in.

Hextall’s hesitation

Ron Hextall inherited a tangled mess of wires in Philadelphia, taking over as Flyers general manager after Paul Holmgren jammed together a slew of bad contracts. Seems Hextall has also inherited his predecessor’s confounding optimism.

The sooner Hextall realizes this team isn’t going anywhere, the better for the franchise. He should be actively trying to move anyone and everyone on his roster — though those contracts are like anchors.

“We’re probably not far from the point where, if we don’t get it going, we’re going to have to start thinking about some things,” he told the Phildelphia Inquirer. The sooner the better for them.

Free market, please come through

The loss of CapGeek.com was huge for all hockey fans, an especially tough thing on hockey writers. First, we hope founder Matthew Wuest gets over his health issue and can reopen the site. And if not, we really hope someone out there realizes there is a need for a site with all of this contract information, and there is money to be made in recreating it. Here’s to hoping the free market works — and soon.

Goodbye to J.P. Parise

The passing of J.P. Parise should be recognized. But I can hardly add anything meaningful to what my colleague Larry Brooks wrote Thursday. A glimpse into the media-player relationship from 40 years ago, along with a glimpse at Parise the man, Larry wrote something you must read.

Stay tuned …

Know who are three points out of a playoff spot? The Florida Panthers. Yup, the Florida Panthers.

Did you know they haven’t been under .500 since Oct. 18? Did you know they were 10-5-3 in their past 18 games going into Friday’s game in Calgary? From there, they’re heading to Edmonton, then Winnipeg, before returning to their native sunny locale on Jan. 15 to start a five-game homestand, traversing the All-Star break. Even if they don’t make the playoffs — are they actually better than the Bruins or Capitals? — it’s fun to have to keep an eye on them.

Rapid reaction rankings

1. Rangers: They’re the hottest team in the league, without a question, winning 12 of their past 13. And just as they said, there were statement games in Anaheim and LA, both resounding wins for a team on the rise.

2. Predators: They’ve lost once in regulation over their past 11, and are 16-2-1 at home. The plus-30 goal differential is impressive, as well. Coach Peter Laviolette is the first-half Jack Adams Award winner — you know, if there was such a thing.

3. Lightning: Big win for Jon Cooper’s group on Tuesday, keeping the Canadiens at bay with a 4-2 victory.

In the 7-12 range: Islanders: No, the sky is not falling with the two awful losses — and honestly, they were awful — that capped the Western Canada road trip. But a loss Friday night in Newark would start to raise some caution flags.

In the 25-30 range: Devils: Not looking like the three-headed monster behind the New Jersey bench is working out just yet. And it’s just so odd to see two guys, Scott Stevens and Adam Oates, vying for the head coaching job, with general manager Lou Lamoriello standing right there. Just so odd.

Parting shot

Who’s excited for the All-Star Game! Who’s ready to find out the rest of the players going, to be announced on Saturday! Who’s looking forward to the spectacle of Columbus, Ohio, on Jan. 24 and 25!

(Crickets . . .)

Well, no, that’s unfair. The people of Latvia are excited for the All-Star Game. Because that’s where they’ve sent their homegrown star, Zemgus Girgensons, via a staggering amount of online votes. They’re so excited, they made this rap video. Yeah, Latvian rap. Dig it.

And try to get the chorus — Zem-gus/Gir-gon-sonnnns — out of your head.