Sturm is sidelined again

Club may need help from Providence

TAMPA - Marco Sturm didn't get KO'd in Chicago when the Bruins played there Nov. 12. But his head hurts just the same, because of persistent neck pain that again kept him out of the lineup last night as the Eastern Conference heavies faced the listless Lightning (14th in the 15-team conference).

"He didn't skate," coach Claude Julien said following the morning workout at the St. Pete Times Forum. "And to be honest, we kept him off the ice."

Sturm, 30 and in his 11th NHL season, has not played since Nov. 17 and has missed the last seven games. In the previous three seasons, the dependable left winger missed only 16 of 246 games. A veteran of 778 career games, he is not accustomed to viewing the ice sheet from the press box.

According to Julien, Sturm suffered a neck injury - akin to whiplash - during the Bruins' 2-1 win over the Blackhawks. He scored in Chicago, connected for a pair the following night against Montreal, then went without a point against the Rangers and Maple Leafs, averaging about 15 minutes of ice time.

"It's a cautionary thing," said Julien, explaining why Sturm, who practiced with the club Wednesday, did not pull on a sweater for the day-of-game workout. "He could be 100 percent tomorrow."

If Sturm remains unavailable, the Bruins would be left with only 12 forwards tomorrow night in Sunrise against the Panthers. It's possible, said Julien, that general manager Peter Chiarelli will put in a call to Providence for an extra forward. The logical addition would be Vladimir Sobotka, the gritty 21-year-old center who also can play wing.

Wideman out

Julien was forced to play both his greenhorn defensemen, Matt Lashoff and Johnny Boychuk, because Dennis Wideman, after skating in the pregame warm-ups, was unable to answer the bell.

Julien found out about Wideman's woes as he was readying to turn in his roster.

"We could have put him in, but you don't know, maybe he would have hurt it more, and then we're down to five guys," noted Julien. "The risk was too high for us to take. I wanted someone who was 100 percent. I thought both those guys played very well. I was impressed."

Veteran blue liner Shane Hnidy did not skate in the morning workout, but he played (perhaps because of Wideman's absence) and logged a meaty 24 minutes 14 seconds. Aaron Ward (leg) remained home.

Lightning strikes

The Lightning got the best of the Bruins at the faceoff dot (winning 55 percent of the draws) and in the hitting game (a 27-21 edge). Marc Savard struggled at the dot, losing 13 of 19 faceoffs. Tampa Bay rookie Steve Stamkos was 1 for 6 . . . Rookie Matt Hunwick logged a hefty 23:27 . . . Milan Lucic finished with four hits, one of his lighter nights on the body-slam beat. The Lightning's Ryan Malone had a game-high seven hits.

Sullivan back

Former Bruins coach Mike Sullivan, not asked back amid the change in Lightning ownership over the summer, is back behind the Tampa bench as associate coach, aiding another ex-Bruin, Rick Tocchet.

Sullivan returned almost immediately after GM Brian Lawton (another ex-Bruin) canned coach Barry Melrose only 16 games into his three-year deal.

"I had a conversation with [Tocchet], felt a comfort level there, and it just sort of evolved," Sullivan said. "It was a little awkward at first [returning from the prior regime], but that has gone away."

ESPN announced yesterday that Melrose, long a fixture in its hockey broadcast department, will be back at the microphone in January.

Burns battling

Ex-Bruins coach Pat Burns, who lives for much of the year in New Hampshire, was a press box visitor in his role as scout for the New Jersey Devils. Burns is recovering from colon cancer, diagnosed in April 2004, less than a year after he coached the Devils to the Stanley Cup.

"The treatments are all done; they can't do any more for me," said Burns, 57, noting that he is not cancer-free but the disease remains contained.