It wasn't necessarily experience that put the San Jose Sharks past the St. Louis Blues in game one of their Stanley Cup Playoff series. No, it was simply Marty Havlat and the fact that he's a gamer that gave the Sharks the win in the end, which isn't to say that the rest of the double overtime game wasn't fantastic by the whole team, but we're trying to get away from the "experience" label.
Well, we're trying to get away from said label in regards to game one. That was just a drag-out game that could have went either way in the end, and now the Sharks have a 1-0 lead in the series without having played at the HP Pavilion yet, and that's huge for them. Playing ahead is much different than playing from behind, in an individual game and in a series altogether.
Which is where experience might actually be a tangible factor. While the Sharks are desperate to finally win a Stanley Cup, they're not as desperate to just break through and get that win. The Blues haven't won playoff games in a long, long time. There's already been talk about some changes big and small on both sides, but you can bet the bigger changes will be from the Blues.
They need to win game two, while the Sharks can go back to HP Pavilion, at worst, tied. Experience will play a role this time around, from everybody on the ice for San Jose to the Todd McLellan and the coaching staff. That doesn't necessarily mean the game will be an easy win for the Sharks - it'll probably be just as close - but St. Louis is in on of those positions where you just expect them to make a mistake.