BUFFALO — The Bruins remain without top center Marc Savard as they take on the Sabres tonight. Savard, who will miss his 15th game because of a broken foot, skated hard for about an hour yesterday morning. He is slated to return to the B’s lineup in St. Louis Monday. “That will have given him 4-5 days of skating and we’ll all feel confident he’s ready to go,” said coach Claude Julien. “The plan is for him to play in St. Louis and right now there’s no reason that shouldn’t happen.”Tim Thomas remains in a backup role because of an unknown injury that popped up Thursday in Atlanta. Julien said he hopes Thomas will be ready to play with a few days. Tuukka Rask makes his second start in 24 hours.

ATLANTA — Winger Milan Lucic is expected to play tonight against the Thrashers after missing 14 games with a broken finger. Lucic did not accompany the team on its flight south Wednesday. He was suffering from what the team believed was food poisoning. But he is flying in today — assuming the massive air traffic problems in Atlanta caused by a computer glitch don’t delay him.Meanwile, center Marc Savard skated at the morning practice and would like to play. But the team will hold him out tonight and quite possibly tomorrow night in Buffalo. A return for Savard, out 13 games with a broken foot, is likely Monday in St. Louis. 

A welcome sight for the Bruins at the Garden this morning: Winger Milan Lucic skating with the team during the pre-game skate before tonight’s match against the Florida Panthers. Lucic has been sidelined since breaking a finger in Dallas Oct. 16. He has been skating on his own for the past week or so, but took an important step today and said he is hoping to return to the lineup in the opener of the B’s upcoming four-game trip, in Atlanta Thursday. If he’s not quite ready then, it’s a safe bet he will play at some point on the trip. Lucic plans to take part in practice today.

Center Marc Savard (broken foot) has not yet resumed skating.

The Bruins are looking for their third successive win tonight, with the red-hot Tim Thomas expected in nets. Thomas blanked Pittsburgh Tuesday, 3-0, and has allowed only six goal in his last five games.

WILMINGTON — Having finally won two successive games, against strong Buffalo and Pittsburgh teams, the B’s face a somewhat less imposing foe tomorrow night at the Garden in the Florida Panthers. But cooach Claude Julien stressed to his team that it not let up and assume it will be an easy two points.

“This is one of those cautious games,” said Julien after practice this morning at Ristuccia. ”We just w9n against two pretty good teams. We’ve got to make sure we’re not looking at who we’re playing. Is there any reason to get confident when you’ve just won a couple of games in a row for the first time?”

The entire B’s squad skated, with the exception of D-man Derek Morris, who came back from illness to play Tuesday but was given the day off to continue his recovery. 

Bruins center David Krejci has been diagnosed with the H1N1 flu. According to a media release from the team, Krejci will be isolated form the team until he is symptom- and fever-free for 24 hours.
“Like most people, we are taking many precautions to try to prevent our players and staff from contracting the H1N1 virus, said GM Peter Chiarelli. “Our medical staff is working with David to get him healthy as soon as possible, and our players and staff will continue to take precautions with hopes of preventing the spread of the virus to others in the organization.”
Forward Mikko Lehtonen was brought up from Providence yesterday on an emergency basis.