They're powerless to halt slide

Man-advantage not what it was

WILMINGTON - Prior to the Bruins' recent six-game stumble (1-3-2), their power play was ranked sixth in the league, clicking at a 19.2 percent success rate to bail out the club's pea-shooting five-on-five offense.

Even the power play, however, has deserted the Bruins.

In the last six games, three of the club's seven goals have come on the power play. The man-advantage has gone 3 for 32 during that time, tumbling from sixth to No. 12 entering last night.

Dennis Wideman, quarterback of the No. 1 power-play unit, has an idea why it's fallen off, and it starts at the other end of the rink.

"We're not executing our breakouts," he said yesterday after a 45-minute practice at Ristuccia Arena. "That's why we're not seeing the plays right now. When we do get it in, we're losing battles, not making good dumps, not getting shots through to the net, and not shooting enough. We're just not executing."

In Tuesday's 4-1 loss in Ottawa, the Bruins appeared to score a power-play goal after one of the rare instances where the setup was as good as the finish. The Bruins gained a clean entry into the Ottawa zone, won a puck battle, and set up in their preferred formation. Marc Savard, stickhandling along the right wall, passed low to Marco Sturm, who skated the puck toward the net and jammed a shot on goalie Martin Gerber. Glen Murray, who had been stationed in the slot, whacked the rebound into the net. But referee Dan O'Halloran waved off the goal, explaining he had intended to blow the whistle before the puck crossed the line.

"We got set up, won a battle, and we did that," Wideman said. "Sturmy took it to the net, and that's the stuff we've got to do."

Yesterday, Andrew Ference manned the point alongside Wideman on the No. 1 unit, with Savard, Sturm, and Murray at forward. Mark Stuart and Shane Hnidy worked the points on the second unit, feeding pucks to David Krejci, Chuck Kobasew, and Milan Lucic. Instead of practicing their breakouts, the Bruins set up their power-play alignments and tried to score on Alex Auld and Tim Thomas.

"We're going to take the blame for that as a team," coach Claude Julien said of the power-play struggles against the Senators. "In the third period, we were a little better. We did make some adjustments. It goes along with a lot of our game lately. We're not scoring goals. Our decision-making - who to move the puck to, when to move it - is not at its best. When your best players are squeezing the sap out of the aluminum sticks - if there is sap in there - it shows where you are right now. Today was one of those practices where we tried to encourage them to score and finish."

Joining the in crowd

For the first time since suffering their injuries, Patrice Bergeron, Andrew Alberts, and Manny Fernandez will join their teammates for the morning skate at TD Banknorth Garden prior to tonight's game against Tampa Bay.

"They're far enough so they can do morning skates," Julien said. "They're not going to practice with us, but do morning skates with the team, which I think is good for everybody involved."

Of the three, Fernandez appears closest to returning to practice. Yesterday, during an on-ice session with goaltending coach Bob Essensa, Fernandez dropped into the butterfly and pushed off his left skate (he underwent surgery on his left knee Dec. 12) without problems.

"I think there's a possibility there," Julien said of Fernandez practicing tomorrow with the team. "He's not close to being ready to play yet. But as far as coming in to practice, there's a possibility."

Alberts, who has skated for an hour each of the last few days, said he can feel his strength returning, although he's still 5 pounds below his playing weight. Alberts said he still has headaches.

"I've been antsy for two months," said Alberts. "But I feel like I'm getting closer."

No rewards

In his last four starts, Auld has allowed seven goals, including 65 minutes of perfect puck-stopping Sunday against the Rangers. For all that, he has been saddled with a 1-1-2 record. "Obviously, wins are important and points are important," said Auld. "At the same time, I've got to keep the big picture in focus. I have to worry about what I'm doing and my game and keep battling." Auld said he's seeing the puck well and remaining patient in the crease. Auld was the first goalie off the ice yesterday, but it's unknown whether he'll make his fourth straight start tonight . . . Zdeno Chara completed an off-ice workout yesterday, but didn't participate in practice, making him doubtful for tonight. Julien said Chara (upper-body injury) remains day to day . . . Bobby Allen suffered a flare-up of back spasms, cutting his practice short. The Bruins had assigned Matt Lashoff to Providence yesterday morning, but recalled the defenseman because of Allen's injury . . . Toward the end of practice, Julien tinkered with his forwards, returning the top three lines (P.J. Axelsson-Savard-Murray; Sturm-Glen Metropolit-Kobasew; Lucic-Krejci-Phil Kessel) to the threesomes that had skated together for most of the six-game winning streak from Feb. 19-March 1. "The bottom line is that we're not finishing. We're not putting them in," Julien said. "Sometimes you say, 'Change your lines.' So we change them and get the same amount of scoring chances. It always comes back to the same thing: It's our finish."

Fluto Shinzawa can be reached at fshinzawa@globe.com.