Finally April 23, 2016, 6:51 PM ET [245 Comments] Ryan Wilson

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Finally.



Finally the Penguins have beaten the Rangers in the playoffs again after faltering in 2013-14 and 2014-15.



Finally the Penguins cracked the Lundqvist riddle during postseason play. What used to be an incredibly frustrating affair on a regular basis turned into a feast this spring. This time around the Penguins scored 15 times on 113 shots against the future Hall of Fame goaltender who was left with an .867 save percentage and a lot of frustration.



Finally this team committed to speed and skill over grit. Out with Scuderi, Orpik, Glass, Sill, Adam, Lapierre, Spaling, Vitale, Engelland, Pyatt, Zolniercyzk, and Kobasew types.



Finally this team has four scoring lines. For years it was: "Hey Sid and Geno you guys are awesome we are going to sit back and hope you do everything for us". Now the superstars can do their thing and actually get some help on the side when they can't break through in a given game. Every line has players who know what to do with the puck. The players aren't deathly afraid of it like it is going to explode if they hold on to it and try to make some kind of controlled play



Finally the team didn't wait until the trade deadline to address all of their needs for depth. Players like Nick Bonino, Matt Cullen, and Eric Fehr were targeted in the offseason minimizing the need to spend futures for patch work at inflated deadline prices. This is how you keep your competing window open.



Finally no Rob Scuderi.



Finally the team is getting meaningful contributions from players on ELC contracts (Maatta, Dumoulin, Sheary, Rust, Kuhnhackl, Rust, Murray). An element that all Stanley Cup Champions need.



Finally the Penguins have fallen ass backwards into a top six forward from within their system. Conor Sheary has the goods and by overlooking the perceived size disadvantage and focusing on the stuff that matters they have somebody that can help take some of the puck carrying responsibility away from Crosby. His emergence has some great long term potential.



Finally the team had a plan and stuck to it. Instead of letting an incredibly small sample of regular season games change their course (like in 2014-15) they kept building the team with more speed and then some more speed and topped it off with another batch of speed even if they got banged around at times. The trades for Hagelin and Daley highlight this approach as do the WB/S callups.



Finally the team has stopped employing PK specialists and started focusing on guys who aren't a complete embarrassment at even-strength.



Finally we see #SidDownLow more often than not on the power play.



Finally Phil Kessel can be appreciated for the player he is and not have to do it all himself.



Finally the team is fun to watch.



Finally the team has won a playoff series wearing those fine black and Pittsburgh gold threads.



Finally you can be comfortable knowing that the Penguins have put their best foot forward regardless of where this playoff run eventually leads.



Finally and most importantly the organization has given Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin a proper chance at another Stanley Cup.



Finally indeed.



Thanks for reading!