Q: Is there anything Michel Therrien could say to this team other than "Do exactly what you did in Game 1?" It would be hard to script a better opening game.

Greg Thompson, Edgewater, Md.

MOLINARI: The Penguins have to be pleased with most of what happened during their 4-0 victory against the Senators in the opener Wednesday, but there is ample room -- and need -- for improvement if they are to take, and maintain, control of the series.

As for what precisely what Therrien should tell his players before Game 2 tonight, here are a few suggestions: "Cut down on the number of chances you give the Senators' power play," and "We're reconfiguring our power play the way the Post-Gazette's Q&A has been suggesting for weeks, with our top-shelf talent spread over two roughly equal units instead concentrated in one."

The guess here is that Therrien will, in fact, make the former point to his players several times before the opening faceoff tonight. The latter? Probably not.

Q: Jeff Taffe plays a gritty game and has decent hands, but he has fallen out of the top 12 forwards. His game seems better equipped for the playoffs than the smaller Tyler Kennedy. Do you see Taffe playing in this series for a reason other than an injury?

Joe Bartnick, Los Angeles

MOLINARI: In fairness, you submitted your question before Game 1, when Kennedy did not look the least bit out of place in his NHL playoff debut and actually was quite effective during his nearly nine minutes of playing time.

Sixty minutes into the series, no forward has played his way out of the lineup, so Therrien doesn't have a good reason to carve out a spot for Taffe. That can always change, however -- in a best-of-seven, it's hard to justify giving members of the supporting cast an opportunity to play their way out of slumps, at least when there are personnel options available -- and there obviously could be an injury at any point.

Certainly, if circumstances create an opening for Taffe, Therrien shouldn't be reluctant to use him. Taffe was promoted from the Penguins' farm team in Wilkes-Barre as a short-term fill-in in December, and played well enough to stay for the balance of the regular season.

He's not likely a difference-maker, but even role players can make important contributions during a playoff run, as career minor-leaguers like Dave Michayluk and Jock Callander proved during the Penguins' championship drive in 1992.

Q: I'm not getting ahead of myself, just wondering: After looking at the league standings, do the Pens get home ice if they play the Ducks in the playoffs? Same record. Only game they played, the Pens won.

Matt Coohill, Los Angeles

MOLINARI: Seems like a timely question, Matt, now that the Penguins have earned all but 11 of the 12 victories required to reach the Stanley Cup final.

The intra-conference seedings that determine home-ice during the first three rounds do not apply when East meets West in the Cup final, but most of the usual tiebreakers do. Because the Penguins and Anaheim finished with identical 47-27-8 records, the victories tiebreaker settles nothing. The head-to-head one does not apply, because the Penguins and Ducks played only once and, per NHL guidelines, the Penguins had an unfair advantage because that game was played at Mellon Arena.

That takes it to the goal-differential tiebreaker, which dictates that the Penguins would have home ice if they were to meet the Ducks in the Cup final. Theirs was plus-31; Anaheim's was plus-14.