Boston Bruins center Marc Savard

Bruins Center Marc Savard did not skate again today (core injury), and while left wing Peter Schaefer returned to the ice from his flu-bug, goalie Manny Fernandez had to leave practice with an ouchie (hand), as well.

Ok, so do you want the good news first or bad news?

Bad news, eh.

"(Savard) did not skate today because he is not ready," said Bruins head coach Claude Julien after practice. "He remains a day-to-day, but when you haven't skated in two days, to be honest with you, it's probably doubtful for tomorrow.

"I am not going to say that he's definitely out, because you never know.

"But I would have to list him as doubtful," he said.

John Bishop is the beat writer for BostonBruins.com. He covers the Black & Gold hoping to offer a positive look at the team, not only from the stands and the press box, but also from inside the locker room.

And how about Manny, coach? We saw him go off after dropping his glove.

"I'm not sure. I got off the ice and I haven't even really talked to the trainer...If you want me to to that, I can do that," said Claude.

Heck yes, Coach, let us know what is up.

[short wait]

"Ya, he just got the puck (awkwardly) on the hand," answered Julien (this time with a smile) after he conferred with the training staff. "Nothing serious."

Will it affect his availability for tomorrow?

"No. No. No. He's good."

Thank goodness -- especially since, as the next anecdote shows, goalies are just one shot away.

As you know, Zdeno Chara has the hardest shot in the league as proven by his performance during the competition at last year's all-star festivities in Dallas.

Today, during a penalty shot contest, Chara unleashed that shot on his teammate Tim Thomas and hit Timmy on the one spot on his body without any padding, very high on the inside of the thigh.

"No major damage," said the ever-smiling netminder, who said that he had hoped that Z would fire it up again. "I wanted him to.

"I wanted to kick the rebound back at him."

Laughs all around.

Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas

Seriously, though, for us spectators, it was scary to see Thomas visibly wince after the shot.

"You know, (it hurts) like a hangnail or something else (minor), like a slap," said Tim, who did not miss any practice time at all, and continued to be sharp during the penalty shot drill. "It doesn't hurt for that long."

Chara, ever the straight man in these situations, did not waver, and said he wasn't worried about Thomas.

"Nope. Timmy can handle it," said Chara. "That's it."

Sure, Timmy can handle it, but can we?

More in a bit...