Bruin must exhibit his talent

Fernandez can't wait to impress

Manny Fernandez has not been an NHL regular for a year and a half, and he hasn't even played in a game in almost a year, so when the 34-year-old goaltender takes the ice tonight for the Bruins' first exhibition game, he will be fighting to calm his nerves at the same time he's fending off pucks.

"I've got pretty much every feeling running in my blood right now," Fernandez said yesterday after practicing with the first of two groups of veterans during training camp at TD Banknorth Garden. "It's been a while and it's weird to feel this way again, to get the mental game going the day before. I can't imagine what it's going to be like [tonight].

"You try to keep those feelings inside. I hope I get a lot of work and I hope I get tired, so I can shut the nervousness off."

One game will not make or break a goalie with 12 years of NHL experience, but it sure feels like it. Bruins coach Claude Julien wants Fernandez to get lots of playing time right away, because in a sense the team still needs to see what it's got.

Forty-five players will make the trip to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where the Bruins face the Montreal Canadiens in the first of five exhibition games in six days. Half the squad will play, but most eyes will be focused on two players: Patrice Bergeron and Fernandez.

Bergeron suffered a season-ending injury Oct. 27 when a hit from behind left him with a broken nose and a concussion. Fernandez, acquired from Minnesota in the offseason with the expectation he would contend for the primary goaltending slot, played only four games before undergoing surgery to repair the medial collateral ligament in his left knee Dec. 15.

By April, Fernandez was working his way back into shape, and when the Bruins took on the Canadiens in the first round of the playoffs, Fernandez said he was ready to play. But he was kept out of the lineup, not quite forgotten but not quite remembered.

That is probably the most frustrating part for Fernandez, that he didn't get to show his teammates how good he was.

"I hate to think about that time," Fernandez said. "It might have been the worst time of my life. It's almost like I wasn't there. It was tough to get to know the guys in that situation. You want guys to see the real you on the ice. You want to match what people are waiting to see."

As it turned out, the Bruins didn't really need Fernandez, as Tim Thomas turned in an outstanding year, earning a trip to the All-Star Game and carrying a heavy workload while going 28-19-6 with a 2.44 goals against average and a .921 save percentage.

Fernandez was in an awkward situation.

Determined to work his way back to the top, Fernandez picked up every bit of ice time he could scrounge this summer. He went to the Bruins development camp for rookies, which required getting permission from the NHLPA. He went to several Bruins goalie camps. He worked out with any skaters he could find in Montreal, and sometimes, when he couldn't find anyone else, he went to the neighborhood rink in Montreal by himself and did crease drills, working on getting across faster.

"There were no shooters, but I was just trying to get in position," he said. "Better than nothing."

But any kind of practice is still not a game, and Fernandez is keenly aware of that.

"It's tough to know what to expect," he said. "You'd like to have a few more practices to clean up your game, but you have to do it one way or another. If it doesn't work, you go back to the drawing board, work harder. [Tonight is] just going to be a test of nerves. Physically, I feel good. My only question mark is a game situation, where I'm at."

Julien was impressed with Fernandez's summer work schedule and he also is eager to see what the goalie can do, as well as scoring star Bergeron.

"I'll be just as anxious as they are to see what level they're at," said Julien, "and how good they feel after the game."

Even if Fernandez can prove he is back to the form that earned him and Niklas Backstrom the Jennings Trophy (fewest goals allowed by team) in 2006-07, he still has to catch up with Thomas.

"We've got Tim Thomas here - we're not brushing him aside," Julien said. "If we can get Manny to be on his game, we've got two really good goaltenders. I think that is crucial.

"Timmy carried the load for us last year. Now it's a matter of giving Manny a chance to get his game going, and we're going to make sure that Timmy keeps his on track as well. Manny is much further behind Timmy right now because of inactivity the last year and a half."

Barbara Matson can be reached at matson@globe.com.