Sturm still on the mend

Marco Sturm will miss his ninth consecutive game tomorrow because of knee tendinitis. Sturm continues to skate heavily in practice and will actually be on the ice tomorrow morning — before the 12:30 p.m. local start — with the rest of the healthy scratches, getting in more work. Before the Kings left Los Angeles, Sturm said he hoped to get back in the lineup during the road trip, but Terry Murray also did not commit to playing Sturm on Sunday against Philadelphia, so Sturm could be looking at almost another week without playing.

MURRAY: I think he needs more skating. I think he needs more work here, to get that pop in his game, in his legs, to see that on a consistent basis, practice after practice. I had a conversation with him yesterday on the ice. He gets a hard work day in yesterday and he comes back the next day and still feels a little tightness, in his overall body and a little tightness in his knees still. So that’s a concern for me. We’ve got back-to-back games here, and I want to get him to be feeling the right way and making sure that he’s on top of things physically, so that he can get back into the lineup and contribute. it’s not just a matter of going out and playing the game. That’s no good. He’s got to come in and be a player that’s going to have an impact on the game.”