A Sturm re-signing may be close

TORONTO -- After the four-player deal that sent Brad Stuart and Wayne Primeau to the Calgary Flames Feb. 10, all signs pointed to Marco Sturm, the third of the three ex-Sharks, to follow his former teammates out of Boston.

Not so fast.

According to a TSN report yesterday, the Bruins are close to locking up the free agent-to-be to a four-year contract. Sturm said nothing has been completed, and Peter Chiarelli, currently attending general manager meetings in Naples, Fla., was unavailable for comment. On Monday, Chiarelli said that re-signing Sturm was very high on his priority list.

"We're back talking again," said Sturm, who's earning $2.1 million this season. "Obviously it's coming a little close to the deadline, but nothing's done. Nothing serious yet."

With the Bruins claiming a 3-0 win last night and making a push for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, the club may not be able to afford a Sturm deal before next Tuesday's trade deadline. Sturm didn't score last night, but since missing two games with a concussion, he has been one of their more dangerous offensive threats.

And with Patrice Bergeron (18-36--54) and Glen Murray (27-17--44) questionable for this weekend's matches, the Bruins need all the scoring they can get.

Sturm said that he met with Chiarelli approximately three weeks ago, and Chiarelli told the left wing to play hard. Apparently he listened, as Sturm (19-10--29) has 6 points in his last seven games.

"I think I did that," Sturm said. "So we'll see."

Because Bergeron and Murray were unavailable, the Bruins recalled David Krejci from Providence, putting the rookie through a hairy travel experience en route to Toronto.

Krejci was informed of the promotion in the middle of practice yesterday. He gathered his stuff, traveled to Boston, and planned to board an afternoon flight from Logan to Toronto.

That flight was oversold, and Krejci went on standby. Krejci got a seat on the plane, but after touching down in Toronto, he had to sweat out the city's stifling rush-hour traffic. Krejci arrived at the Air Canada Centre at approximately 6 p.m., and was on the ice for warmups.

"I felt pretty good," said Krejci, who centered Stanislav Chistov and Petr Tenkrat on the fourth line and had 3:12 of ice time.

Because of the uncertainty with Bergeron and Murray, Krejci traveled with the team to Tampa.

Marc Savard, who usually catches a breather during opposing power plays, skated 1:44 on the penalty kill last night. Coach Dave Lewis sent him out for defensive-zone faceoffs, then replaced him with one of his regular penalty-killers once the Bruins gained control of the puck. Taking defensive faceoffs on the PK usually falls to Bergeron, the team's best man on the draw (51.9 percent success rate). "I thought he was one of our leaders tonight," Lewis said of Savard, who won 10 of 23 draws (43 percent). "He and [Zdeno Chara] were two guys who left it all out there. They didn't come back with anything. If you looked at their eyes after the game, they left it all out there." In the third period, Savard was clipped and bloodied below the nose by the stick of forward Chad Kilger.

While Savard has been the alternate captain in the last four games because of Bergeron's absence, Axelsson wore the other "A" in place of Murray last night . . . Hannu Toivonen has taken a new mask to the ice for the last two games. But because of Tim Thomas's play, it's unlikely that Toivonen will get a chance to debut the Itech model in game action soon.

Fluto Shinzawa can be reached at FShinzawa@globe.com.