WILMINGTON — Bruins coach Claude Julien said following Thursday’s practice that forward Carl Soderberg is “probable” for Friday’s game against the Penguins. Soderberg, who arrived on Tuesday and participated in the Bruins’ morning skate and warmups Wednesday, practiced on the left wing of a line with Chris Kelly and Jaromir Jagr Thursday.

“He skated yesterday. We put him in the warm-up last night to get him the feel of that. He practiced with us today. He’ll skate tomorrow morning,” Julien said. “That’s where I’m going to have to make that decision, whether I feel comfortable enough to give him that shot against Pittsburgh tomorrow or wait another game.”

The 27-year-old Soderberg has played his entire professional career in Sweden. This season, he had 31 goals and 29 assists for 60 points in 54 games for Linkoping HC of the Swedish Elite League.

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Milan Lucic

WILMINGTON — After skating with the healthy scratches in Thursday’s practice at Ristuccia Arena, Bruins forward Milan Lucic said he wouldn’t blame Claude Julien for making him a healthy scratch.

“Nope. Nope. I wouldn’t blame anyone but myself. If that’s what needs to be done in order to get myself going, I’m for what’s best for the team and not best for myself,” Lucic said. “Like I said, I want to be a part of the team. I want to be better. I want to contribute. I know I can be a big part of the team. Ultimately it all comes down to myself, so there’s no one to blame but myself.”

Lucic has only six goals this season and is about to begin a three-year, $18 million deal next season that will make him the highest-paid forward on the Bruins. For whatever reason, he hasn’t looked like the 30-goal scorer he was two seasons ago or the premier power forward that warranted the big payday, as he’s scored just twice over his last 27 games. Julien admitted Thursday that he might indeed scratch the star forward.

“You saw where he was this morning and it indicates that he may not play tomorrow,” Julien said. “But I haven’t decided that yet.”

Lucic said Thursday his confidence is the lowest it’s been since his the 2009-10 season, when he had nine goals and 11 assists for 20 points and a minus-7 in 50 games of an injury-plagued season.

“It’s not where it was two years ago or last year,” Lucic, who has just two goals over the last 27 games, said. “It’s almost back to where it was at year three when things are just not gong the way you want them to go. Enough with the excuses. You can’t just keep making excuses and saying all these things and pointing fingers and stuff like that. You’ve got to work yourself through it.”

Said Julien: “I don’t know what it is. But we all know he’s struggling right now. He obviously knows that. We’ve had our chats about his game for a while now. He’s really trying to turn the corner but doesn’t seem to be able to. So as a coach, you’re trying to help him through that stuff. A big portion of it’s going to have to come from him, obviously. We can support him and give him opportunities but at the end of the day you have to be able to step up there. And he knows he’s not, it’s not a secret, I don’t think to anybody. But we also know what he’s done for this team in the past and what he’s capable of doing. And you’ve just got to hope that this player finds his game because we’re going to need him.”

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WILMINGTON — Perhaps a healthy scratch could be in Milan Lucic‘s near future, as the 24-year-old power forward was among the extra forwards in Thursday’s practice at Ristuccia Arena.

Lucic, who has just two goals over his last 27 games and six goals on the season, joined Kaspars Daugavins and Jay Pandolfo in green jerseys to signify the spare forwards. The lines were as follows:

Daniel Paille – David Krejci – Nathan Horton
Brad Marchand – Patrice Bergeron – Tyler Seguin
Carl Soderberg – Chris Kelly – Jaromir Jagr
Gregory Campbell – Rich Peverley – Shawn Thornton

Extra forwards: Lucic, Kaspars Daugavins, Jay Pandolfo

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Shawn Thornton and the Bruins took a turn for the worse Wednesday night. (AP)

The Sabres came from behind in the third period to eventually beat the Bruins, 3-2, in a shootout Wednesday night at TD Garden. Boston clinched a playoff berth by getting a point out of the contest.

With the B’s leading late, Cody Hodgson scored on a 6-on-4 with 48 seconds remaining in regulation to tie the game at two, making for the Bruins’ latest blown lead in the third period. The teams skated to a scoreless overtime period before Drew Stafford beat Anton Khudobin in the in the shootout to deliver the victory for Buffalo.

The Bruins got on the board in the first period on a goal from Daniel Paille, with Thomas Vanek tying the game with 1:20 remaining in the first. Paille then assisted on Chris Kelly‘s third goal of the season at 14:48 of the second to give Boston the lead.

Prior to the puck drop, fans watched and cheered through a slide show of pictures from the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings set to Phillip Phillips‘ “Home” before Rene Rancourt sand just the first 10 words of the national anthem and conducted the sold-out Garden crowd through the rest of it. Following the game, both teams stayed on the ice and saluted the Garden crowd at center ice.

The Bruins will next face the Penguins Friday at TD Garden.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE BRUINS

- Andrew Ference took a delay of game penalty with 48.8 seconds remaining in the third period, allowing the Sabres the 6-on-4 opportunity on which Hodgson scored to tie the game.

- The Sabres went 2-for-6 on the man advantage. Both came during penalties to Boston penalty-killers (Zdeno Chara and Ference) and the B’s actually looked better shorthanded than Buffalo did on the power play at points, but the name of the game for the PK is keeping the opponent off the scoreboard.

- That wasn’t the only poorly timed penalty. Milan Lucic, who was skating on the fourth line, was putting the necessary work in out in front early in the third period, but he caught Adam Pardy in the face with a high stick as he was battling. That led to a double-minor, which wasn’t what he or the Bruins were looking for in the third period of a one-goal game. The Bruins got through it, however, allowing just one shot on goal to the Sabres over the four minutes.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE BRUINS

-  The B’s saw the return of Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron from concussions, and the trio of Bergeron between Marchand and Tyler Seguin appeared to pick up where it left off prior to Bergeron’s injury. Bergeron, playing in his first game since April 2, won 11 faceoffs while losing just three and landed five shots shots on goal in regulation. Marchand and Seguin each had four shots on goal.

- The new third line of Kelly between Paille and Nathan Horton worked. Kelly did plenty of digging in the corner to get the puck in order to feed Paille in front on the Bruins’ first goal, and Paille returned the favor when he sent a pass off Kelly’s skate in front in the second period that Kelly gained control of and put past Ryan Miller.

- Speaking of Paille and Kelly, a few interesting numbers came about Wednesday night. After scoring his ninth goal, Paille now has as many goals in 40 games this season as he did in 69 games last season. He also had a 10th on two separate shorthanded bids in the third period. Kelly’s goal was the 100th of his career.

- Though the Sabres were on the power play for six of the first 10 minutes of the third period, the Bruins held a 14-5 shots on goal advantage in that span. For the night, the B’s outshot Buffalo, 43-32.

Brad Marchand

Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs, TD Garden, the NHL and NHL Players’ Association announced have pledged to donate a combined $250,000 to the One Fund Boston, which raises money for the families of those affected by the Boston Marathon bombing.

Jacobs will donate $100,000, while the Garden, NHL and NHLPA will donate $50,000 each. In addition to those donations, Bruins players and staff have donated a combined 80 tickets to first responders who came through in Monday’s events.

“The efforts that have taken place from ownership, management, players and all our associates to put together the proper recognition at tonight’s game for those who responded, helped and comforted all those who have been affected by the tragic events this past Monday have been remarkable,” Bruins President Cam Neely said in a statement. “Every member of our organization has assisted in many different ways to make sure we make Boston proud, make our fans proud and show what it means to call Boston home. I am very proud of our entire organization for the compassion and support they have all showed, although not surprised. We are all ‘Boston Strong.’”

Additionally, Brad Marchand will raffle off his suite at the Garden for the Bruins’ first home playoff game, with all the proceeds going to the family of Martin Richard, the eight-year-old Dorchester native who was killed in the bombings.

“Our whole team saw the photos of Martin at our game from last Thursday and learned that he and his family are big fans of ours,” said Marchand. “This is just one small gesture which I hope can help the Richard family during this incredibly sad time for them. What they are going through is unimaginable and we will try to assist them in any way we can.”

Both the Bruins and Sabres will wear “Boston Strong” decals on their helmets Wednesday, with the Garden showing a “Boston Strong” video prior to the game. Fans in attendance are encouraged to sing along with Rene Rancourt during the National Anthem.

To donate to One Fund Boston, click here.

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The Bruins will wear a "Boston Strong" decal on their helmets. (Boston Bruins photo)

Wednesday will be an emotional night at TD Garden, as the Bruins’ contest against the Sabres marks the first professional sporting event in Boston since Monday’s bombings at the Marathon.

“We don’t only need to be ready, but we need to show that we want to support everyone in the city,” Daniel Paille said after Wednesday’s morning skate.

The security was ramped up at TD Garden Wednesday, with all entrants being tested with a security wand and having their bags checked thoroughly. Additionally, the Bruins’ helmets now have “Boston Strong” decals on the back.

It isn’t the game-day experience everyone’s used to in which you go to the morning skate, go home and come back to play a game with the rest of one’s everyday life sprinkled in. It’s amplified and it’s more emotional because the seconds spent off the ice are occupied by dealing with Monday’s events. The important thing, Claude Julien said, is that the Bruins use their emotions for good Wednesday night.

“It’s a natural thing to still be emotional, but yesterday’s practice had a lot of energy. Today’s skate, we seemed to be showing a lot of energy,” Julien said. “The only thing left is to bring it to the game and really put it in the right place where we can do what we want to accomplish.”

What the Bruins hope to accomplish is obvious. They want to give Boston not only a distraction from its grieving, but, to quote Brad Marchand from Tuesday, “something to believe in.” They can’t make everything better, but they can help.

“The one thing I sense from our team is we have the ability to maybe help people heal and find some reason to smile again by representing our city properly,” Julien said. “To me, this is a time when you’re proud to be associated with a professional team. Even the NHL and all professional sports. When you look at the support this city’s had from rivals and everything else that are giving us support at this time, it’s amazing. We have an opportunity to make our city proud, and I think we’re all in for it. Hopefully we can do that for the city right now.”

Folks get into the National Anthem every game, but it figures to be an impassioned scene prior to Wednesday’s game. The players have felt the weight of Monday’s events like the rest of the city, so they’ll have to deal with the challenge of keeping it together once they hit the ice.

“Obviously it’s going to be emotional in the beginning, we’re going to show respect, but after that, for the next two and a half hours, we just have to play the game,” David Krejci said. “It’s all we can do to give something to Boston to be happy about.”

Carl Soderberg skated with the B's for the first time Wednesday. (WEEI.com photo)

The Bruins got an influx of healthy bodies Wednesday morning as Carl Soderberg skated with the team for the first time, while both Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand (concussions) have been cleared and will be in the lineup for what figures to be an emotional contest against the Sabres.

Soderberg, who arrived Tuesday from Sweden, participated in morning skate on Wednesday but will not be in the lineup against the Sabres. The Bruins feel that it will be beneficial to both Soderberg and the team for him to get some practices in and watch the team from the press box before jumping into game action.

Wade Redden will make his Bruins debut on Wednesday, with it unknown which Bruins defenseman will sit. Andrew Ference was supposed to be a healthy scratch on Monday before the game was postponed, but Adam McQuaid and Matt Bartkowski stayed on the ice a little longer than teammates, suggesting they might be the scratches.

There was a heavy amount of rotating in line rushes for the B’s in Wednesday’s practice, but here’s what the forward lines looked like:

Gregory Campbell – David Krejci – Jaromir Jagr
Brad Marchand – Patrice Bergeron – Tyler Seguin
Daniel Paille – Chris Kelly – Nathan Horton
Milan Lucic – Rich Peverley – Shawn Thornton

The goaltenders left the ice at pretty much the same time, but it was Anton Khudobin who was the first off. Given the time between games, it would be a bit surprising to see Tuukka Rask sit Wednesday, so stay tuned on that front.

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