Coach Michel Therrien gave the Penguins yesterday off.

It's pretty clear that was a concession to the busy schedule the Penguins are facing -- they'll have games Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday in each of the next two weeks -- rather than evidence Therrien couldn't think of anything his team needs to work on.

Not after it allowed a season-high 46 shots on goal in a 4-2 loss Thursday at Carolina and, more troubling, has given up an alarming number of scoring chances lately.

When its penalty-killing is coming off a 3-for-6 effort against the Hurricanes and has yielded six goals in the past six games.

When its scoring continues to come primarily from members of the Ryan Malone-Evgeni Malkin-Petr Sykora line. The occasional Brooks Orpik goal not withstanding, of course.

Heck, if there were a few minutes left over, Therrien might want to give some attention to his power play, which was 1 for 8 in a 2-1 loss Wednesday to Boston and 1 for 5 in the loss to Carolina.

The 2-for-13 power-play streak the Penguins will take into their game against Buffalo at 6:08 p.m. tomorrow at HSBC Arena likely isn't their biggest concern -- it shouldn't be, anyway -- but it is noteworthy, considering how productive they have been with the man-advantage the past four weeks.

In the Penguins' first 46 games, the power play converted 18.8 percent of its chances, good for ninth in the league rankings. In the 12 games since Sidney Crosby, the dominant figure on the power play, got a high ankle sprain, they have capitalized on 16 of 55 opportunities.

That's a conversion rate of 29.1 percent; to put that achievement into perspective, consider that Montreal had the NHL's most efficient power play before last night's games, scoring on 24.5 percent of its chances.

In the dozen games since they lost Crosby, the Penguins have raised their success rate to 20.9 percent, fourth best in the league.

Do a superficial assessment of how the power play has fared with and without Crosby, and there might be a temptation to believe Crosby shouldn't be allowed to watch while the Penguins have an extra man, let alone be involved.

In reality, though, the Penguins have been successful not because Crosby was replaced on the No. 1 unit, but because their approach to creating scoring opportunities has been modified since he was hurt.

"Sometimes, when you're [missing] a guy like this, you try to compensate with something else," point man Sergei Gonchar said.

For the Penguins, that has meant reducing the power play to its most basic components.

While assistant coach Mike Yeo, who oversees the power play, believes the Penguins were beginning to execute the way they wanted even before Crosby was injured -- moving the puck and bodies quickly to open up lanes, getting the puck on goal as much as possible and having people around the net to set screens and get deflections and rebounds -- they've done it more consistently the past dozen games.

Gonchar and fellow point man Ryan Whitney have been launching shots at the net, Malkin has been shaking free for high-percentage shots, Malone has caused chaos near the crease while collecting deflections and rebounds, and Sykora has been hovering to grab pucks that squirt loose.

"We've been shooting it a lot more," Whitney said. "[Gonchar] has gotten a bunch of shots from the middle and [Malkin] has taken some one-timers, those type of things.

"[Malone] has been in front. He's done a good job of taking a lot of cross-checks, taking some abuse in front and setting some screens."

The importance of Malone's role, which Jordan Staal also has filled on occasion, cannot be overstated, because obscuring the goaltender's view not only allows some shots to beat him cleanly, but also increases the possibility of rebounds that can be turned into second-chance goals.

"I just try to stand in front and get any garbage I can," Malone said. "We're just trying to keep it simple and get shots on net. That's the key to any power play.

"If you're outworking the other team and getting shots on net, sooner or later it's going to go in."

In the case of the Penguins, more often than anyone would have dared to expect. But no so frequently that there won't be a place for Crosby on the No. 1 unit when he's able to resume playing.

"Hopefully, when he comes back," Gonchar said, "it's going to be even better."