I can't say that I'm surprised by that xG share data. We've gone from being a 4 line team to being a 2 line team on offense and our attention to defensive structure has been lacking from forwards and defensemen alike.
That said, this recent funk over the last 3 games looks strikingly similar to early last season, and Berube figured out how to get us out of neutral then so there is no reason to believe he can't do it again.
In the mean time, I feel like there is an opportunity to make some tweaks that could help us down the road, one of which I am about to suggest will probably attract some major flak.
1. When Thomas is healthy, send him to San Antonio for some conditioning to make sure that when he rejoins the NHL lineup he is hungry, confident and ready to go. He's 20 now so we can do that, you know.
2. When you send Thomas down, bring up Kostin for a cup of coffee. Let him earn an NHL paycheck for a week or two and see if you can get some of the preseason performance out of him in games that count against full NHL squads. Even if he struggles, he'll have a better idea of what to work on.
3. When you bring up Kostin, shuffle the forward lines a bit to try to get three lines that can score. Put Kostin with Schenn and Schwartz and move Tarasenko with Bozak and Fabbri.
4. If Kyrou is healthy after a week or two and Kostin isn't getting traction, send Kostin down and bring Kyrou up for a few games. Let's see what he can do when healthy, now that he's had a season of really strong AHL play under his belt and after adding some size to his frame in the offseason.
5. Eventually you bring Thomas up, and at that time you (hopefully) have some difficult roster decisions to make. I could see them sending MacMac down and carrying Fabbri and Sanford as the extra forwards with Thomas and one of Kostin or Kyrou in the everyday lineup. At that point, maybe there is a deal to be made with one of Fabbri or Sanford for a pick or for a prospect in an area of greater need, or perhaps the experiment made us realize that neither Kostin nor Kyrou is ready for a full time NHL assignment so you send Kyrou down and continue the season with the opening night roster.