"Kari Lehtonen saw the bad and good in returning to the practice ice Thursday.

On one of the first shots he faced, defenseman Adam Pardy wired a puck off his mask and knocked it loose, causing Lehtonen to leave the net for repairs.

``Nice start, eh,'' said goalie coach Mike Valley.

But Lehtonen recovered quickly, then went in for some friendly fire _ his first since suffering a groin injury on Nov. 26. He finished off the practice by running his new radio control Mustang around the bench area while hiding behind the locker room door.

``It's a Christmas gift,'' Lehtonen said with a shy smile."