Bruins notebook

Ailing Lucic sits out

Julien describes him as day to day

MILAN LUCICInjury a mystery

By Matt Porter

Globe Correspondent / January 8, 2009

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WILMINGTON - While he appeared to play without limitations Tuesday, left wing Milan Lucic did not step on the ice yesterday for practice at Ristuccia Arena. And while coach Claude Julien confirmed that Lucic suffered an injury in the 1-0 loss to the Minnesota Wild, he provided no details.

Julien said only that Lucic would be reevaluated today: "We're going to qualify it as a day to day, and we'll see how he feels and go from there."

When asked about the nature of the ailment, Julien said, "As I mentioned to you guys at the beginning of the year, there's certain times where we're going to protect our players, and I think this is one of the times we're going to protect our player. We'll leave it at 'an injury.' "

Lucic wasn't available for comment.

The 20-year-old played 14:21 Tuesday, taking 18 shifts alongside Stephane Yelle and Chuck Kobasew. Lucic was involved physically (team-high three hits), but he continues to look out of synch offensively, which caused his demotion from the first line four games ago. He was in the penalty box when Minnesota scored.

Other than the occasional set of scuffed knuckles, the rough-and-tumble Lucic has stayed relatively healthy. He missed four games last season with a mild concussion after a Nov. 24 hit from Islanders defenseman Bryan Berard. Lucic also broke his nose twice last season. He has played in every game this season, registering 11 goals and 15 assists, and had an eight-game point streak snapped Dec. 27.

It's elementary

The key to getting back on track after consecutive losses, said Julien, is to play a simpler game: get pucks to the net, create traffic, and anticipate rebounds.

Goaltender Manny Fernandez, who took his third loss of the season Tuesday, said his mates were doing just that in practice. He saw the same good habits against Minnesota.

"I don't see a big problem. We hit the post a few times [Tuesday] night, they got lucky, and we didn't. That was basically the game," said Fernandez. "The play is going to open up against [Ottawa tonight]. We're going to get our chances."

Julien said the Bruins can start by winning puck battles against the Senators.

"When confidence is high, you can do almost anything, and the guys have shown that," said Julien. "We haven't lost our confidence. We just haven't got our confidence at the level where we had it when we were on that roll. There is no panic. There's reason for concern that our game is slipping, but you take that concern, address it, and work your way back up."

Medical journal

Andrew Ference, who is recovering from a broken right tibia, was held out of practice after skating Monday. "He had a situation the other day where we decided to be a little more cautious," said Julien. "He should be on the ice tomorrow. If not, the day after."

Shane Hnidy, who was struck above the left eye by a puck Tuesday night, did not participate in the workout because the eye was swollen shut. Patrice Bergeron (concussion) and Marco Sturm (lower body) remain on injured reserve.

Julien said Aaron Ward (charley horse) should return tonight. Ward skated alongside Zdeno Chara in practice. "He felt good today," said Julien. "Today wasn't a day where we had a lot of contact, but he should be good to go tomorrow."

Job well done

Tim Thomas had praise for Ottawa's Alex Auld, who performed well in 23 games for Boston last season. "Obviously, we needed another goalie when Manny was hurt," said Thomas. "He was able to take a lot of pressure off of me and gave the team a whole lot of confidence." Auld, like most of the Senators, has been struggling. The Senators have scored an NHL-low 89 goals and are 1-5-1 in their last seven . . . The Eastern Conference All-Star reserves will be announced today at noon. The West reserves were named yesterday, with ex-Bruin Joe Thornton of the Sharks and Melrose's Keith Tkachuk of the Blues making the team.