Aggressive Fernandez is getting up to speed

WILMINGTON - In Wednesday's first period, after he already made a left-to-right pad stop on Montreal center Tomas Plekanec, Manny Fernandez found himself staring down a frightening sight: an unmarked Alex Kovalev with the puck on his stick at the left circle.

The Bruins netminder, in only his second preseason start, had to read the play in an instant. Were there defensemen in place in front of the net? Did Kovalev want to shoot? Were there other Canadiens joining the rush as options for Kovalev?

In a split-second, Fernandez read the situation, charged out of the crease, and challenged Kovalev.

"You've got to look at the play," said Fernandez. "There's nobody wide. I knew he was by himself. I had time to get out and time to get back if he wanted to challenge me one on one. Plus, I knew one of our [defensemen] was coming through the middle to push him out."

It was the right decision. Fernandez didn't make the save, but it was one of the goalie's sharpest moves of the night. By attacking Kovalev, Fernandez took away the shooting angle, and the winger buzzed a slap shot wide of the net.

"My game is to be aggressive," Fernandez said after yesterday's practice at Ristuccia Arena. "It looked like he was going to let it go, so I wanted to be out there."

Fernandez is still trying to establish his game, but Wednesday's 3-1 loss (on three Montreal power-play strikes) was a significant step toward NHL standards. Fernandez was quick in the crease. He recovered after making initial stops. He made the difficult look routine, such as when he peeked through bodies and snatched a point wrist shot by defenseman Ryan O'Byrne in the first period.

As much as Fernandez was encouraged by his play, the Bruins were just as pleased to see the veteran goalie take another positive step, especially after a so-so performance in the preseason opener against Montreal in which he allowed two goals in an 8-3 victory. Yesterday, the Bruins assigned Tuukka Rask to Providence, affirming that Fernandez and Tim Thomas will break camp as the club's goalies.

"I don't think [Fernandez] needs to come back and prove himself," said coach Claude Julien. "What we needed to see was that he's capable of being himself again. To me, he showed that [Wednesday] night. Even the first game, when he played two periods against Montreal, I'm not going to say he was great. But he was OK. Right now, from that game to the one [Wednesday] night, he's getting better. He seems to be getting more comfortable."

The Bruins demoted the goalie who had the best camp of the three. In two starts, Rask went 1-0-1 with a 1.48 goals-against average and a .952 save percentage. But Rask's inexperience and his $3.2 million cap hit were two factors against the 21-year-old starting the season with the big club. However, if a trade or injury takes place, Rask should be ready for a promotion.

"We've got a young goaltender who had a really good training camp," said Julien. "That's something for him to build on. Should he be disappointed? Absolutely, with the camp he had. But we've got two veterans here that are proven goaltenders and we're going to go with them. It's a long year. You never know what can happen. At least we know that if one of those guys goes down, we've got a pretty good guy in the minors to come in and play for us."

Chiarelli: No deal

Wednesday's Boston Herald reported of chatter regarding a possible trade involving Marc Savard. Later on Wednesday, Chiarelli said Savard would not be traded.

"He's an All-Star player, without whom we wouldn't have made the playoffs last year," Chiarelli said.

Savard led the Bruins in scoring in each of the last two years. He's in the third season of a four-year contract worth $20 million. Savard has a no-trade clause.

Lashoff demoted

Matt Lashoff, Jeff Penner, and Martin St. Pierre were also assigned to Providence. St. Pierre must clear waivers by today's noon deadline before he can report to the AHL club.

Lashoff was projected to push for an NHL job. But the 22-year-old defenseman looked jumpy and indecisive with the puck. Defensively, Lashoff has trouble turning and retrieving pucks. He has the skills required of an offensive defenseman - wheels, vision, hands - but hasn't followed the development curve sketched out by the Bruins.

"I don't think he had the best camp," Julien said of the Bruins' 2005 first-round pick, 22d overall. "His confidence seemed to slip away a little bit midway through camp. He's still only a second-year pro. I think we saw a lot of good things from him. There are still some areas he could polish. He's got an offensive touch to his game that's very good. The other side of it, he needs to keep working on - the defensive part of his game and the one-on-ones and winning battles. Those are things he's going to get through experience."

The Bruins were pleased with Penner's first pro camp. If St. Pierre clears waivers, he should center one of Providence's top two lines. The Bruins have 27 players remaining in camp, and are expected to make the final cuts after tomorrow's game against the Islanders.

Stuart held out

Mark Stuart didn't practice yesterday. Stuart, who suffered a charley horse last Saturday against Washington, felt stiff during Wednesday's game. He thought he could return to practice today . . . Petteri Nokelainen (groin/hip) missed practice and is day to day . . . NESN will carry tomorrow's preseason game against the Islanders at 4 p.m.

Fluto Shinzawa can be reached at fshinzawa@globe.com.