You could find all sorts of factors to weigh in the Penguins' first-round series against Ottawa, reasons one team or the other should win.

Some might say the youthful Penguins will need to find a bit of magic in their locker room.

Well, they have.

When defenseman Ryan Whitney missed his only game of the season Tuesday because of a groin injury, he was killing time when he wandered into a magic store on the South Side called the Cuckoo's Nest.

Whitney had seen a former teammate, Matt Murley, do some tricks and thought he was pretty good. After visiting the shop, Whitney began doing the familiar disappearing ball trick for teammates.

"I guess it could be a hobby if you do become good at it," Whitney said.

Wingers Ryan Malone and Colby Armstrong thought it was interesting and also visited the store.

"It's sleight of hand stuff," Malone said. "Mine's a pen that I stick through a dollar bill. I'm just messing around with it. I'm learning. It's just something to entertain the guys."

Malone wound up hiring one of the store employees to entertain guests at his wedding reception this summer.

Whitney said Malone is the magic ringleader. Malone said it's Whitney. Both said Armstrong is involved.

Despite his teammates' assertion, Armstrong claims to have nothing to do with the magic.

"But I like watching it," he said. "The ball trick's pretty cool. I think it's just something they're having fun with, something to fight boredom."

Perhaps some of them will learn a new trick for each round that the Penguins advance in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

"Yeah, that will be the rule," Whitney said.

Senators work it out

Although the Senators struggled through the early weeks of the regular season -- they were 7-11 in mid-November -- they believe the adversity they experienced then might have worked to their benefit in the long term.

"We learned how to win games, and not just on our talent," defenseman Chris Phillips said. "We had to work for it. We had to grind some out.

"Learning that has helped us out during this stretch, playing against some desperate teams trying to make the playoffs and, hopefully, strengthened our team going into the playoffs."

Inexperience not a worry

Penguins coach Michel Therrien is among those who isn't worried about his young team's inexperience in the NHL playoffs.

Of the 25 players on the active roster, 15 have never played in an NHL playoff game.

Therrien pointed out that many of them have played in the postseason in the minor leagues, junior hockey or both.

"So they have been in pressure situations," he said.

"You know, we didn't have much experience [in general] this season, and we've done pretty well."

Slap shots

The Penguins resume practicing today. ... After closing the regular season with 13 consecutive sellouts, the Penguins finished with 30. This is the first time outside of the Mario Lemieux era that the team has had that many sellouts. There were 34 sellouts in 1988-89 and again in 1989-90, 32 in 1992-93 and 30 in 1992-93.