The Penguins are in trouble.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re heading to Philadelphia this week down two games in their first-round series and, barring some immediate changes, could be staring down a 3-0 hole by Wednesday night.<\/p>\n
Dan Muse and the Penguins have a few changes available to them before Wednesday, including some potential personnel changes. Here\u2019s some possibilities:<\/p>\n
1.Shake up the power play units.<\/p>\n
The Penguins got five power play opportunities on Monday night. On those five tries they recorded a total of two shots and allowed a shorthanded goal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were just a few adjustments,\u201d coach Rick Tocchet said about his team\u2019s penalty kill after the game (h\/t OnPattison.com\u2019s Anthony SanFilippo<\/a>). \u201cWe\u2019re a little more aggressive. A little more pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n That pressure showed. The Penguins couldn\u2019t connect on passes, keep the puck in at the blue line or prevent breakaways. Shuffling personnel, maybe including bumping someone like Anthony Mantha up to the first unit, could help the Pens find a more shot-happy combination.<\/p>\n 2. Swap the Chinakhov and Rakell lines.<\/p>\n The Penguins went into both of these first two games of the series with Egor Chinakhov on Sidney Crosby\u2019s line, while Rickard Rakell centered Evgeni Malkin.<\/p>\n They haven\u2019t had a lot of success at even strength with that top six, and Muse ended up swapping Chinakhov and Rakell back to Malkin and Crosby\u2019s lines, respectively, during Monday\u2019s second period.<\/p>\n Muse declined to make any conclusions about that mid-game swap after the loss, saying the Penguins didn\u2019t get enough sustained looks at even strength for him to make an evaluation.<\/p>\n \u201dI\u2019m not in a position right now to really make any decisions in terms of lineup for next game,\u201d Muse said<\/a> after the loss. \u201cThat\u2019s something\u2014 we\u2019ll look at film, we\u2019ll speak as a staff. We\u2019ll make those decisions later.\u201d<\/p>\n The Chinakhov-Malkin and Rakell-Crosby combos worked well down the stretch of the regular season. Given how much the Penguins have struggled to put together any offense through two playoff games, those combos could be worth trying again.<\/p>\n Few of the forwards have been standouts through two games. The Penguins could try scratching a bottom-six forward and shuffling Brazeau into the lineup to see if he is able to find any more success.<\/p>\n The Ryan Shea-Connor Clifton pairing was on the ice for nine Penguins shot attempts and 10 shot attempts against on Monday night, by far the worst ratio among the defense pairings, per MoneyPuck<\/a>. St. Ivany has experience skating alongside Shea from earlier this season and could be an option if the Penguins decide to swap out Clifton.<\/p>\n 5. Figure out zone entries.<\/p>\n The Flyers have the Penguins\u2019 number in terms of how Muse\u2019s team usually likes to bring the puck into the zone. Even on the power play the Penguins regularly relied on wrapping the puck along the boards on Monday night, often at the cost of an immediate Flyers clear.<\/p>\n The Pens will need to figure out how to make their usual controlled breakouts work against Tocchet\u2019s aggressive defensive system in order to get some more offensive momentum in Game 3.<\/p>\n