Chara gives thanks

Zdeno Chara, who will start in the All-Star Game alongside Martin Brodeur (New Jersey), Andrei Markov (Montreal), Daniel Alfredsson (Ottawa), Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh), and Vincent Lecavalier (Tampa Bay) on Jan. 27, tipped his hat to the voters around the league who made him a starter for the first time in his career.

"It's a big honor," said Chara. "My thanks goes to all the people who gave me their votes and my teammates. It's a big privilege and it's an honor to be accepted."

The rest of the East club will be named on Friday. Tim Thomas should be the leading candidate from the Bruins to join Chara in Atlanta.

* Thomas will make his fourth straight start tonight.

* Don't expect Milan Lucic to drop the gloves anytime soon. While the coaching staff hasn't instructed him not to fight, Lucic knows it would be a bad move to exchange punches. Lucic said his forehead is still tender from the high stick he took from Mike Green last week. Lucic will get his stitches out on Thursday.

* Claude Julien is expecting better play from fourth-liners Jeremy Reich, Petteri Nokelainen, and Shawn Thornton tonight. The line has been on the ice for two of the last three even-strength goals allowed. "Your fourth line really has to worry about not getting scored against," said Julien. "That's the No. 1 criteria."

Tonight's expected lineup:

Axelsson-Savard-Kessel
Sturm-Krejci-Kobasew
Lucic-Metropolit-Schaefer
Reich-Nokelainen-Thornton

Chara-Wideman
Stuart-Ference
Lashoff-Hnidy

Thomas