Answer 1: The X-Factor

Game 1 showed that the inexperience that I didn't believe would be a factor would, indeed, be a factor for the Penguins. Despite having watched playoff games, nothing prepares one for playoff hockey like playing in the playoffs. You don't know what playoff hockey is until you are, baptized by fire, so to speak. As much as it pains to me to say that buffoon commentators like Brett Hull and Ray Ferraro were right, the only way to learn how to play playoff hockey is to play in the playoffs.

While it's easy to remember that the Pens' trio of underaged superstars were experiencing their first run through the NHL playoffs, so, too, were the Penguins' crucial role players experiencing their first taste of the NHL postseason. Colby Armstrong, Max Talbot,. Erik Christiansen, and Michel Ouellet , will all be better players given this experience. But the fact of the matter is that the Pens' role players were not as experienced or skilled at how to perform their duties come playoff times as were Ottawa's role players.

When it comes to the lack of scoring from the blueline, it only goes to say that Ryan Whitney, like the rest of the Pens' youngsters, will benefit from his baptism by fire in the NHL playoffs. Whitney will have to learn how to play in hard-hitting traffic and still move the puck, and he has the size and skill to learn how to do that. However, like the rest of the Pittsburgh youngsters, inexperience showed out, and not in a good way.