Dan Bylsma has watched the Penguins lose five games in a row.

He has seen them squander a 3-0 lead early in that skid, and fail to protect a two-goal advantage in their most recent game.

He has looked on as they've scored all of three goals in the past three games while giving up 11, and been cursed with a power play that is 1 for 13 during this losing streak. (Although, truth be told, that means the Penguins have done about as well with the man-advantage lately as they have throughout the season.)

Clearly, Bylsma had plenty of reason to cancel the day off the Penguins had been scheduled for yesterday.

And he did.

But not because he wanted to punish the players for their shortcomings in the past five games. Rather, Bylsma said, he hoped to exorcise those mistakes as the Penguins prepare to face Atlanta at 7:38 tonight at Mellon Arena.

So Bylsma did not conduct a no-pucks workout, or one built around sadistic skating drills that leave knees quivering and the stomachs empty. Rather, it was a basic-to-basics session, starting with faceoffs and working up to a shootout, intended to patch some of the cracks that have appeared in the foundation on which the Penguins' game is built.

"With the [limited] amount of practice time [due to the NHL's compressed schedule in this Olympic year], some of those details have started to slip in our system and how we're playing," Bylsma said.

"With a minimal amount of practice time, you have to find ways to get some of those details into the focus of the players and back into the game."

With fewer off-days than usual this winter, NHL coaches are compelled to strike a balance that allows their players to be rested, but sharp. That's a particular challenge for Bylsma, whose team has had back-to-back short summers.

Bylsma determined a practice was in order sometime between the end of the Penguins' 6-2 loss Sunday at Florida and the time their flight home touched down that night. And while most of his players likely had some plans for their scheduled day off, none seemed to object to having the workout added.

"As players, we think he made the right call," defenseman Jay McKee said. "We haven't been executing properly. I know the guys are working hard. It's not about guys not working. We're just not executing.

"When things aren't going well, it's not the right time to take a day off and go relax. It's about coming here, working hard and getting yourself focused for the next game. I think we all wanted to be here today, all wanted to put in the effort. We all need to get better."

The senior member of the team, 39-year-old right winger Bill Guerin, also gave Bylsma's decision an unqualified endorsement.

"With this schedule, we don't have time to practice," Guerin said. "There's not a lot of time to have an hour-and-15-minute practice to work out the kinks and stuff like that.

"If the day off is canceled, so be it. He's doing it for the benefit of the team, not as a punishment."

Bylsma's intent is to restore the edge to his team's game, to get better execution of things like defensive coverages. Re-inventing the game isn't on his agenda, so it shouldn't necessarily take long for his team to get back in synch.

"It's not splitting the atom, or anything like that," Guerin said. "It's hockey. We know exactly what to do."

Scoring a few more goals than they have lately is on that list, although Guerin cautioned against undue anxiety born of concerns about the offense.

"Every team goes through this every single year," he said. "Nobody scores enough goals. I've played on enough teams, and I've seen it every time. We're going to score enough goals."

His confidence seems to be shared by most of his teammates. Indeed, there's no indication the Penguins' slide has caused any of them to doubt the ability of those around them.

"We know we have a good team," winger Pascal Dupuis said. "We know we can do it. We know we've done it in the past. It's just one of those stretches where nothing's working."

That mindset explains why, although their locker room is a bit more subdued than usual, there is nothing resembling a sense of doom there.

"We have an upbeat group of guys and we have an upbeat coaching staff," Guerin said. "There's no reason to panic or beat ourselves up.

"We know what we have to do to play better and win. We just have to do it."

Penguins Plus, a blog by Dave Molinari and Shelly Anderson, is featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.