An easy fix to improve the look of the Canadiens' moribund power play, at 12.3 per cent currently dead last in the 30-team National Hockey League:

Flip the ranking upside down.

It's come to gallows humour when discussing the man-advantage play of the Canadiens, no one having an answer to a misery that's contributed largely to the abyss in which the team exists.

So head coach Randy Cunneyworth is contemplating a roster shuffle as the Habs embark on back-to-back games in Pittsburgh and Toronto.

Not to be melodramatic, but earning a few points will keep this patient taking shallow breaths. A pair of losses to clubs battling for their own playoff lives would pretty much bury any hope of making the postseason.

The critical weekend begins Friday against the Penguins (7 p.m., TSN-Habs, RDS, TSN Radio-990), then moves to Toronto for a Hockey Night in Canada tilt vs. the Maple Leafs on Saturday.

Following Thursday's practice, Cunneyworth was thinking aloud about returning Chris Campoli to the lineup in Pittsburgh, the defenceman having been a healthy scratch the past two games.

It's not inconceivable that such a move could shift veteran Hal Gill to the press box. Gill played only 8: 55 in Wednesday's 3-0 loss to Washington, the first time in his 184 games with Montreal that his ice time was in single digits.

Cunneyworth wasn't tipping his hand at who comes out should he insert Campoli.

"No matter who comes out, you take something out to get something else in," the coach said a little cryptically. "We'll look to consider Campoli to help our power play and improve our offence, something he can provide."

It goes without saying that Campoli would enjoy any kind of ice, whose temperature he resembled in conversation after practice.

"It's something I'd like to do," he said of a role on the power play. "It's something I've had success with in the past. Whether or not I'll get the chance, I don't know."

The Canadiens' power play is a joke, having cashed only 22 of 179 opportunities. At 12.3 per cent, it is below the team's all-time season's-end poor - that was 14 per cent recorded in playoff-free 2002-03.

Campoli, 27, was signed as a free agent in late September, then promptly tore a hamstring in the season opener at Toronto. That kept him out of the lineup for 29 games, and he's been a healthy scratch for six of 16 games since his return.

"I'm a professional, I prepare the same way every day and that's not going to change," Campoli said crisply in addressing how he's been keeping sharp with limited game action.

Campoli's name has been one of several bandied about in trade rumours in recent days, the Internet abuzz with deals ranging from thoughtprovoking to mind-numbingly stupid.

Ten teams had scouts at Wednesday's Bell Centre game, while Canadiens general manager Pierre Gauthier has been on the road, birddogging.

Cunneyworth suggested this isn't, or shouldn't be, a distraction for the Canadiens, the Feb. 27 trade deadline looming.

"They can look all they want at the rumours out there because I'm sure there are plenty," he said. "We tell our players: 'Control the things you can control. Right now, your job is working for the Montreal Canadiens. You can't look ahead or worry about what's gone on behind you.' "

There is no quick fix for the power play, of course, quarterback Andrei Markov still on the sidelines. It's difficult to believe that one of the league's best extra-man clubs since the lockout is this awful.

On Thursday, Cunneyworth's first unit was David Desharnais, Erik Cole and Max Pacioretty up front with Tomas Kaberle and P.K. Subban on the blue line; his second unit had Tomas Plekanec between Scott Gomez and Andrei Kostitsyn/Rene Bourque with Campoli and Yannick Weber on defence.

Cunneyworth's power-play strategy hasn't changed: it's about controlling the puck, creating plenty of traffic in front of the net and being in position to pounce on second or third chances off rebounds.

A lengthy team meeting preceded a practice that would execute what all had seen in video study. Cunneyworth also told his club that his units are not carved in stone.

"They know their roles," he said. "We know where they're best, whether they're the goalline guy, half-wall guy or guy in front who battles. We know who does those jobs the best.

"We have two units. If you're not performing, we might interchange a guy or two. We know we're going to stick with it. We're not going to give up. We know (special teams) are a vital part of winning.

"We work at it very diligently," he added of scouting the defence tendencies of shorthanded opponents. "Our players are well schooled as to what the other team is doing."

Goaltenders Carey Price and Peter Budaj might both see action in the back-to-back games, but Cunneyworth wasn't confirming anything beyond having full confidence in both.

"We are what we are right now," he said of the paperthin ice beneath his team's skates. "We put ourselves there, (but) that kind of pressure isn't a bad thing, It's about going out there and giving it everything you have.

"There's pressure every night, but obviously it's heightened by the situation we're in. We can't be saving anything for a later date. (Pittsburgh) becomes the most important game of our season."

dstubbs@ montrealgazette.com

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