Oh, to remember the "good old days" of the Bruins' power play.

After Derek Morris scored on a one-timer with the Bruins holding a man-advantage in Philadelphia Oct. 22, Boston had scored a power-play goal in two of four games -- not something to boast about, but at least production that seemed to signal a turning of the corner.

That Morris goal, however, now seems like ancient history. After going 0-for-5 Sunday at New York in their 1-0 loss to the Rangers, the Bruins are now just 2-for-36 with a man-advantage over their last 11 games, including that Morris score against the Flyers.

Sure, they scored their lone goal against New Jersey on Thursday just seconds after a power play expired. For the most part, though, the Bruins' power play -- even before the loss of Marc Savard to injury -- has been ineffective in even generating offensive momentum for the Black and Gold, let alone scoring goals.

In the big picture, the absence of an offensive catalyst like Savard is always going to result in a decrease in scoring, but power plays should be the great equalizer. The Bruins, like most of the other 29 teams in the NHL, have enough skill players to put together man-advantage units that should be able to succeed at a 16- to 18-percent clip.

At Madison Square Garden on Sunday, head coach Claude Julien finally shuffled some of the power play personnel -- moves that probably should have come a game or two ago. In the third period, Julien removed Marco Sturm from the power play, promoted Mark Recchi to the first unit and replaced Recchi with rookie Brad Marchand on the second group. Julien also switched Dennis Wideman to the first unit to play at the point opposite Zdeno Chara and put Morris next to Andrew Ference for the second quintet.

The Bruins generated their best scoring chances of the day when Brandon Dubinsky took a slashing penalty in the third period just as the Rangers were about to get back to full strength.

Whether Sturm deserved to be the one to take the fall is irrelevant. Hopefully for Julien, the removal of such an important cog in the Bruins' lineup from power-play duty will send a message  a message that no one receives time on the power play based on reputation alone. If that means that Recchi, Ryder or even Morris wind up watching the man-advantage, that's the way it has to be.

Solving the Bruins' power-play problem could be as easy as rewarding the players with the hot hand. Maybe a power-play shift here or there for the Bruins' grinders (who are drawing most of the penalties anyway) wouldn't be the worst thing. If that means Vladimir Sobotka, Steve Begin or Marchand in front of the opposing goal wreaking havoc rather than Ryder or Blake Wheeler looking for a fancy play, so be it.

There's also the matter of Matt Hunwick's absence from either unit. As I reported early last week, the second-year blueliner started to practice a bit with the Bruins' second group. Ference is a solid puck-mover, but he lacks the offensive flair and instincts of a player like Hunwick. If Julien is content with the play of his other three point men (Chara, Morris and Wideman), then making the switch from Ference to Hunwick seems like a a no-brainer. It wouldn't really be a demotion for a guy who's basically a third-pair blueliner anyway. And the Bruins really need Hunwick's speed, creativity and ability to make things happen with the puck -- all the things he showed at the end of last season before his spleen was ruptured.

Patience has been a key to the Bruins' success under Julien and general manager Peter Chiarelli the last couple seasons. Sometimes, however, it's not a bad thing to panic a little bit and get creative. Mixing things up might be the only thing that stops the Bruins' power play from becoming historically awful.

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