The Stanley Cup Final has been all about speed.
If, by speed, you mean depth.
Go ahead and dissect Games 1 and 2 all day long and right into Saturday's Game 3 in San Jose, pick it apart statistically, strategically and even aesthetically, and the Penguins will earn every measure of praise for their performances against the Sharks:
They've been all that and then some. And you'd better believe they've been faster.
But nothing stands out, at least not from this perspective, like the chasm between these teams' lower tiers. Meaning the third and fourth forward lines, and the third defense pairings. Because even if all things are equal on the top two lines -- and they aren't, given that the Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin lines have tangibly generated more than the Joe Thornton or Logan Couture lines -- what's left is ... well, barely worth analyzing.
Not that I'll stop here, of course.
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