Bruins looking to light a spark

After just five games, during which the Black and Gold have gone an uninspiring 2-3, Julien elected merely to tweak his top two lines yesterday for practice at Ristuccia Arena.

For the first five games, he used Marc Savard between Milan Lucic and Marco Sturm. On the second line was David Krejci between Blake Wheeler and Michael Ryder. That was altered yesterday to Savard with Sturm on the left side and Ryder on the right, and Krejci in the middle with Lucic on the left and Wheeler on the right.

The other two lines remained the same (left to right): Mark Recchi-Patrice Bergeron-Chuck Kobasew, and Shawn Thornton-Steve Begin-Byron Bitz.

“It’s just a little tweak for no other reason than to see if that will help maybe shake things up a little bit and get some attention and maybe spark something,’’ Julien said. “I don’t think it’s directed necessarily at anybody except for trying to get the best four lines possible.’’

After a rocky home stand, the Bruins hit the road for a two-game trip against the Stars in Dallas tomorrow night and the Coyotes in Phoenix Saturday.

Julien said Lucic has had success with Krejci in the past and thinks that chemistry can be rekindled.

“They’ve worked well together and when he’s been on that line in the past, and with Michael up there, when you look back at the last game we played [Monday against Colorado], [Ryder] works hard and creates chances and when he works hard, he’s strong on the puck and [playing with Savard], you hope somehow something can come out of that,’’ Julien said.

Defensively, Andrew Ference said it comes down to paying attention to details.

“We watched a [video] clip a couple of years ago,’’ said Ference, referring to a team meeting in which expectations for the season were being discussed. “It was a clip of the Red Wings. It was their top guys and they lost the puck in the offensive zone and it was an odd-man rush [going the other way]. All of a sudden you see these three Red Wing forwards backchecking so hard and it was their three stars. They were making such an effort. The point being, their stars worked so hard to be responsible defensively and took pride in that fact.

“Everybody thought the Red Wings were just some talented team, but the truth is they were one of the hardest-working teams and most responsible. Stars or not, they were responsible for getting back, working hard and backchecking, and doing those little details. That’s kind of what we strive to be. They’re easy to slide away from and not even realize you’ve dropped them. Getting back to them, that helps your whole game.’’

Julien said the key to the Bruins reversing their fortunes is for the players to do their jobs - no more, no less.

“Some guys are trying to do too much, some guys aren’t doing enough,’’ Julien said. “That’s why you have video, you show things. It’s a lot clearer when you see those kinds of things. I know there are a lot of guys who kind of walk out of there wide-eyed and say, ‘Wow, I didn’t realize how bad I was or that I wasn’t working that hard. I felt I was.’ So now you’ve got their attention. For other guys, they were trying to do too much. You say, ‘Look, when things look easy to you, it’s because you’re playing well. When things look tough, maybe you’re trying to do too much.’ It’s a little bit of both.’’

Defenseman Dennis Wideman is still recovering from a left shoulder injury. “We’ll probably figure out [today] if he is that much better, then he’s going to come on the trip with us,’’ Julien said. “If it’s not progressing quick enough, we’ll have to leave him back.’’ The coach said if he were a betting man, the weekend would be the most that Wideman would miss . . . Julien said it was unclear whether there would be any call-ups from Providence to accompany the club on the trip.

Nancy Marrapese-Burrell can be reached at marrapese@globe.com.