If anyone can still recall, the Capitals produced the most points in the NHL's regular season and were, by virtue of that body of work, broadly regarded as the league's best.
One problem with that: The Stanley Cup isn't awarded on a body of work.
Oh, sure, if the Penguins and Sharks hadn't both overcome ragged starts to 2015-16, neither would have qualified for the playoffs and, thus, of course, neither would stand on the precipice of the championship round that begins in great earnest Monday night at Consol Energy Center. But Pittsburgh's 48 wins and San Jose's 46 were melted down to zero once the postseason began. And so now, too, are their 12 wins through three rounds of playoffs.
As Kris Letang was telling me, "It's new. All new right now."
It's all square, too.
And man, I mean that in every way imaginable, because these two teams are not only the league's true best, as defined by the only criteria that matter, but they're also excruciatingly close in so many categories that, in all candor, it's really, really hard to pick a winner. Or even which aspect might separate them:
Here's my try, anyway, in identifying four places the home team must excel if it hopes to finish with the Cup over its collective head:
1. SKATE SUPER-FAST.
Duh, right.
Well, hang on, because there's a double-meaning here: The Penguins generally have been lousy after long layoffs, so these three idle days at this time of year could feel like an eternity, especially for a team that needs its legs going full gusto to be effective. And that's exactly what will be needed in this case.
The Sharks are bigger and stronger on the puck, but they're not exactly slow.
As Brent Burns put it, "We feel like we've got a pretty fast team, too."
"People think of them as just huge and that's it," Patric Hornqvist said. "But that's not it. They're fast. Really fast. We're going to have to be skating at our very best."
And that's got to be right from the opening draw. Because the most dynamic advantage the Penguins might have in this series figures to apply mostly in the beginning. San Jose hasn't seen a team like this, maybe all season when one considers that these teams' only meetings came before Mike Sullivan and all the speed-based trades. The West is built on bulk. So even though the Sharks and Capitals have some similar traits, the Capitals would have been much better prepared for the Penguins' speed through having known them.
There's a shock value, maybe even an intimidation value, in the Penguins exploiting that advantage immediately. That was in play early with the Rangers, Capitals and Lightning, and it's an absolute must now, as the Sharks have other ways to prevail if they're afforded a chance to get cozy. They can, with Peter DeBoer having once coached in New Jersey, be sound defensively. They can, with all that size, own the boards and dominate possession.
But not if they're back on their heels.
“In my experience with the Sharks," Ben Lovejoy said, including his time with Anaheim, "they try to come out and take the game away from you in the first 10 minutes. They’ll put up 10, 15 shots in the first 10 minutes and score a couple of goals if you let them. We must be aware of that. We must be aggressive early and be ready from puck drop.”
The Penguins are 9-2 when they score first in these playoffs, 3-4 when they don’t.
Faces of the Stanley Cup Final on Media Day at Consol Energy Center. -- DKPS____________________
