STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- In a Penguins' locker room that emptied quickly, defenseman Kris Letang remained sitting with his head in his hand for a while, then leaned back, almost curling up in a corner of his locker.

No one felt good about the missing offense or the power play that hasn't clicked, but Letang took last night's 3-1 loss to Ottawa at least as hard as any of his teammates.

A second-year player whose responsibilities have soared because of injuries, Letang could only quietly state the obvious on a night in which coach Michel Therrien furiously juggled lines, defensive pairings and power-play personnel in an attempt to find a spark or chemistry.

"We're all playing with different guys, but we have to keep it simple and stay focused on the game plan," Letang said after the Penguins strayed from that idea in the second of consecutive games against the Senators at the Globe Arena in the NHL Premiere.

Defensemen Sergei Gonchar, who normally runs the power play from the point, and Ryan Whitney are out after surgery, and right winger Petr Sykora is nursing a groin injury. Throw in the addition and subtraction of other key players during the offseason and a training camp shortened because of the European trip, and the result is a team, that looked rough around the edges this past weekend.

Although they ended up with a split following a come-from-behind, 4-3, overtime win Saturday, the Penguins, who played in the Stanley Cup final in June, have lacked firepower.

They scored three even-strength goals in the two games and went a combined 1-for-14 on the power play -- the lone extra-man goal coming from defenseman Alex Goligoski, who was making his NHL debut, with two seconds left in regulation yesterday.

Saturday, Therrien made some changes in power-play personnel in the course of the game. By the second period last night, the coach was in full change mode.

Miroslav Satan, a free agent signee expected to replace departed Marian Hossa as Sidney Crosby's right winger, shifted to the line centered by Evgeni Malkin. Tyler Kennedy, who scored two goals filling in for Sykora on Malkin's line Saturday, moved to Crosby's line.

Later in the game, Therrien resorted to a tactic he has used to coax goals -- he put Malkin on Crosby's wing.

Personnel also got mixed on the power play and with all three defensive pairings.

"We were not creating anything offensively," Therrien said. "We tried to get something going.

"It's a long season. It's a short camp. We're going to get better."

Crosby doesn't sense a problem with chemistry among his linemates.

"No, it's still early in the season," he said. "It's tight out there. It's tight for both teams. There's not a lot of space. It's just a matter of executing."

Ottawa showed the Penguins how things can be with an established line of high-powered forwards.

Through several coaching changes in recent years, the trio of Jason Spezza centering Daniel Alfredsson and Dany Heatley has been broken up and used different ways, but they always end up back together.

It's no different with first-year Senators coach Craig Hartsburg.

"The plan was to keep us apart from each other, especially to start the year," Spezza said. "But I think it's a credit to some of the guys we've brought in -- Jarkko Ruutu, Jesse Winchester, Nick Foligno -- who have shown more offense and created more offense than you expected and who cycle the puck well. If those guys can keep playing the way they're playing and give us good energy, there's no need for us to spread it around anymore.

"We just have a good mix. I like to have the puck a lot. [Alfredsson] is real good in tight situations, and [Heatley] is a shooter. We just work together."

Heatley got the Senators' first two goals last night after scoring one Saturday. In the two games, the three linemates accounted for four goals and four assists. Antoine Vermette got Ottawa's third goal.

At some point, perhaps Crosby and Malkin will be on such established lines, but the Penguins don't think that's a prerequisite for producing a better showing than last night.

"We had [changes] all throughout last year as well and it seemed to work fine," forward Jordan Staal said. "I just think every player here could have given a little better, including myself. We didn't show up."

The team will have some time to settle down and work on things. The Penguins will have a day off here today before an evening flight home. They don't play again until their Mellon Arena season opener Saturday against New Jersey.