More than 13 months after suffering his terrifying neck injury in a game here against the Buffalo Sabres, Florida Panthers winger Richard Zednik made his personal peace with HSBC Arena this morning.

Skating in the arena for the first time since his near-fatal injury, Zednik was the first Panther on the ice for the team's pregame workout. When he hopped down off the boards in front of the bench, he immediately headed to the corner where the accident occurred and made a couple of quick circles.

His teammates, many of whom were smiling, then followed Zednik on to the ice and began their session in preparation for tonight's game against the Sabres. Here is today's Buffalo News story by Bucky Gleason on the incident.

"I was trying not to think about [the accident]," Zednik said after practice. "I want it to be

like any other game. It's a big game for us. I want to just focus on hockey."

Pressed about his initial gesture on to the ice, Zednik smiled and said, "I was just trying my

skates. That's all."

No one in the crush of media around Zednik's locker believed him.

Zednik suffered a severed carotid artery and needed emergency surgery to save his life when he was cut by the skate of ex-teammate Olli Jokinen in the third period of the game here Feb. 10, 2008.

Zednik missed the rest of the season but was ready for training camp in September. So he insisted he's trying to treat tonight's game like any other one on the schedule.

"I don't think it will be different except maybe for you guys coming here," he said. "For me, it's like every other arena. I know what happened but I'm not trying to think about it. It was so quick with everything happening. I remember every step and I was lucky but I'm preparing for the game tonight."

Zednik, who wore a neck guard for the first month of the season, dropped the protective piece because he said it was too tight on his body. He said he hopes tonight's game will be the last milestone he'll have to deal with regarding the injury.

On the one-year anniversary, Feb. 10, Zednik scored two goals, including the overtime winner in a 5-4 victory over Toronto.

"Hopefully I'm going to put this behind me with a win," he said. "So that would be great."

The Panthers enter tonight's game eighth in the Eastern Conference with 77 points. The Sabres are four back, in 10th place, with 73.

The Sabres will have Chris Butler back in their lineup tonight, with Teppo Numminen joining Nathan Paetsch, Clarke MacArthur and Andrew Peters as healthy scratches. The three players who missed Wednesday's practice with the flu (Tim Connolly, Maxim Afinogenov and Jochen Hecht) all

skated today and will play tonight. Patrick Lalime will make his eighth straight start in goal.