COACH Corey Neilson will have big decisions to make this weekend as Nottingham Panthers embark on a three-games-in-three-days road trip to Scotland.
But primarily, he will be hoping some spark will be brought back to their fading powerplay with the potential return of two key players.
With skipper Jordan Fox likely to be fit again after a knee injury, it means another import will have to drop out to make way for the American-born skipper.
British playmaker Jonathan Weaver, who has missed the last eight games with a broken hand, is also expected to return.
Neilson said: "We've got a pretty good number of players and that will allow me to make different rotations for the different challenges ahead.
"It's a tough run of games so we will see who is up for it."
Having back two of his powerplay experts in Fox and Weaver will be a relief for Neilson, another specialist, who is still struggling with a knee injury sustained over a month ago.
The special teams have performed miserably following the injury problems that have hit the side, in particular to Neilson himself.
Tomorrow, Panthers face Braehead, followed by Edinburgh on Saturday and Fife on Sunday – all league games against teams from the supposedly 'weaker' conference.
And if that schedule wasn't tough enough, they return to face Edinburgh at the National Ice Centre on Tuesday to complete four games in five days.
But if Panthers' fading powerplay doesn't improve dramatically, they will struggle to break a three-game losing stretch on the road.
For example, before Neilson's injury, sustained in the second period of their 6-5 overtime Challenge Cup defeat to Cardiff on September 23, Panthers' powerplay scoring ratio was a respectable 20.5 per cent.
The player-coach may be in the twilight of his career, but his importance to the side is emphasised by the fact he assisted on three of those six powerplay goals scored from the start of the season.
Since his injury, that figure has dropped markedly to a dreadful 11.4 per cent, with Panthers scoring just four times from 35 opportunities with the man advantage.
In their last three narrow away defeats – in Belfast, Coventry and Cardiff – they have a woeful record of no goals from 15 powerplays.
The outcome in all three games against their big rivals could have been very different had they converted just one of the five powerplay chances that came their way in each game.
"Taking away three of our top five most offensive guys on the powerplay is a big loss for us," Neilson said.
"Realistically, we can't afford to lose games against teams from the other conference so we have to get that powerplay working again.
"If we don't score in those situations it puts us under pressure, as we have seen in our last two road games in Coventry and Cardiff – games that were perfectly winnable."
