Chara eager to take his best shot

WILMINGTON - His frustration with not playing is bad enough, but it is the frustration with talking about not playing that is likely to drive Zdeno Chara back to the ice sooner rather than later.

The Bruins captain and lead defenseman, sidelined for five games with an upper-body injury, practiced with two other injured players and three goalies yesterday at Ristuccia Arena while the rest of the team took a day off the ice. Chara, Patrice Bergeron, and Andrew Alberts skated and worked through shooting drills with goalies Tim Thomas, Manny Fernandez, and Zach Savard.

OK, Savard was wearing sneakers and he jumped off the ice when the serious shooting began, but Marc Savard's 7-year-old son was wielding a goalie stick with a soft touch.

As for Chara, he looked strong, taking all kinds of shots, including some slappers, without flinching. Shots good enough to leave Thomas sitting in his locker stall after practice and playfully shaking his head.

"I was giving it up to Z," Thomas said. "He was making some pretty good shots in that controlled environment."

Chara was terse.

"Same as yesterday, it's getting better, slowly," he said. "It's coming back. We'll see how it feels tomorrow. Every day is a test. Every day when I go on the ice to see how it is, it's a test."

Chara had expected to practice with the full team yesterday, but coaches Doug Houda and Bob Essensa still managed to give the handful of skaters a tough workout.

"I knew I would be skating, no matter what," said Chara. "Obviously, it would be better to be with guys on the ice but we were doing a lot of drills. Actually, with two or three shooters, you get more quality time to spend on things you need to do."

Chara may be impatient, even short-tempered, but without him, the team is just short. The Bruins are 1-2-0-2 in his absence.

"Every day he is getting better, and that's why we said it's short-term, day-to-day," said coach Claude Julien. "We always try to aim for the next game, and on game day, we make the decision. Same thing as far as he's concerned, but he is getting better. Time heals."

The Bruins will have a full practice today in anticipation of the Canadiens' visit to TD Banknorth Garden tomorrow, and Julien said Chara will join in.

"He'll be practicing with us for sure," Julien said. "How much he gets involved will depend on how he feels."

Ready and willing

Fernandez, too, is ready, but he has nowhere to go. He had surgery on his left knee in December and his recovery has been smooth and remarkably speedy.

"I've just been told that he's cleared to fully go, so we can put him out in practice," Julien said. "There's no restrictions, there's no restraints, there's nothing on his part."

The big obstacle, of course, is the goaltending in front of him: from Thomas (2.54 goals-against average, .920 save percentage) and Alex Auld (2.71 GAA, .906).

"We've got two goaltenders right now that are playing extremely well," said Julien. "It just makes our decision tough. If the situation was right, and we were more or less close to being clinched [for the playoffs], we probably would look at it differently. But right now we have to look at what the importance of this run is all about."

For his part, Fernandez feels ready to play. But he is not eligible to be sent to Providence for a conditioning stint, so he knows he can only get ready and wait.

"My job is going to be going early [to practice] and staying after, doing extra stuff with Bob," he said. "So far so good."

Old nemesis

The home-and-home series with the Canadiens tomorrow and Saturday will be a critical test, as the Bruins have not yet found their A game against Montreal. They have lost six straight this season to Montreal, some by lopsided scores: 6-1, 7-4, 5-2, and the 8-2 stinker Jan. 22.

"When I look back at the games, we've given them more goals than they've earned," Julien said. "That's probably the thing that's frustrating the most, the type of mistakes we've made.

"It hasn't necessarily been that they play us a certain way that we can't fight back. It's been more the way we've come into those games. You look at some of the goals we've given up, whether it's been a weak goal or a real bad mistake that's uncharacteristic of us, I think we have a pretty good idea of what to do and hopefully we'll be able to show that on Thursday.

"Montreal has probably been some of our worst games all year, how we've tried to open up against that team, and they just thrive on that."

Forward thinking

The Bruins signed free agent forward Jeff LoVecchio to an entry-level contract.

LoVecchio is a 6-foot-2-inch, 200-pound left wing who played the last three seasons for Western Michigan University. He had 9 goals and 12 assists in 36 games this season for the Broncos.

"Jeff is a big, strong skater who also has a good shot," said general manager Peter Chiarelli. "Last year [2006-07] he was voted one of the best defensive forwards in the CCHA, and at the same time scored 19 goals. We expect Jeff to work on his skills in Providence and then in time contribute as a two-way player in the NHL."

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.