There is much the Penguins wouldn't care to change about Game 1 of their second-round playoff series against the New York Rangers.

Certainly not the outcome, a 5-4 victory at Mellon Arena Friday.

Or the resilience they showed in response to their first real adversity of this postseason.

Or even, according to coach Michel Therrien, the performance of the defense pairings that were reconfigured shortly before the series began.

Fair enough, on all counts, but there also are a few details they might want to fine-tune before Game 2 today at 2:08 p.m. at Mellon Arena.

Like, say, that 3-0 lead the spotted the Rangers.

"Obviously, we have the confidence that we can come back, but we can't start 3-0 every game," left winger Pascal Dupuis said yesterday. "That's going to come back and bite us if we try to do it every game."

Or, most likely, if they try it again at any point in this series. New York is too sound defensively, Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist too good for the Penguins to think they can make a habit of such comebacks.

"They have a great system and they have a good goalie," defenseman Sergei Gonchar said.

Center Max Talbot, asked what -- aside from that 3-0 deficit, of course -- he believed the Penguins should try to do differently in Game 2, responded, "not much," although he allowed that exerting more pressure on the New York defense and eliminating some mental lapses would work in his team's favor.

At that point, he glanced at teammate Evgeni Malkin in the adjacent stall and added, "Maybe play Max before Geno on the power play."

Malkin, without hesitation, shot back, "[Get] two goals from Geno."

The Penguins wouldn't object to that, of course, and if Malkin gets one or more today, they might look like his winner Friday, when a Sidney Crosby slap shot from the top of the right circle glanced off Malkin in front of the New York net and got by Lundqvist at 18:19 of the third period.

The heat and humidity of spring can leave a sheet of ice better-suited to a swim meet than a hockey game, and the conditions for Game 1 were considerably less than ideal. That works against speed and talent and puts extra emphasis on getting good bounces and manufacturing blue-collar goals.

"[The ice] is pretty soft," Crosby said. "I don't think it really favors one team more than the other. The puck's bouncing for both teams."

Crosby said a member of the ice crew told him that the temperature rises two or three degrees when the Penguins score. That led him to surmise, with a smile, that "I guess the more goals that are scored, the worse the ice is going to get."

There was no word on what effect, if any, goals by the visitors have, but the Rangers might give the staff a chance to find out. They have quite a few forwards, led by Jaromir Jagr, capable of scoring in clusters.

Although Jagr, working on a line with Brandon Dubinsky and Martin Straka, was held without a shot in Game 1, he still managed to set up two goals.

Jagr might not be the dominant force he was earlier in his career -- not night-in and night-out, anyway -- but the guys assigned to limit the damage he does can be forgiven if they don't quite see it that way.

There simply aren't many forwards in the league with Jagr's size, skill and skating ability, and, when he is focused and motivated -- as he clearly has been in recent weeks -- he can be a force with few equals.

"It's not easy to play against him, especially now because it seems like he's on top of his game," said Gonchar who, with partner Brooks Orpik, figures to be matched against Jagr's line for most of the series.

"At the end of the [regular] season and in the playoffs, it seems like he's found his rhythm and is playing very well. ... You try to make sure you don't give him that much time and space to pick up speed. Because when he picks up speed, especially with that long reach, it's tough to defend against him."

Not that it's particularly easy the rest of the time. Then again, very little in this series will be, for either team.

That is why rallying to win the opener was so important for the Penguins, on several levels. Almost as important as understanding that, without three more victories, earning the first means nothing.

"Obviously, it shows character, the way we came back, but it's one game," left winger Jarkko Ruutu said. "Get a fresh start again and don't get too high."

In the playoffs, that's one bit of advice that never changes.