I think that came down to Palat. We've seen Kucherov dominate in the playoffs before, specifically in 2015. And, lo and behold, his linemate that year was Ondrej Palat. I think he opens up a lot of ice for Kucherov specifically, and then Brayden Point takes the trio to a whole different level.
For all the talk about size and toughness, the actual toughness/grit that mattered came from the top line. They scored a pretty ridiculous amount of our goals. We didn't get much depth scoring at all, which has always been the case for us in the playoffs, but normally we see our top scorers flatline. That didn't happen this year, and that was the difference. Lots of credit to Jon Cooper, lots of credit to Ondrej Palat.
Also... something has to be said for just flat out getting older and more mature. We were ready to do "whatever it took" to win this cup, and that was very clear from the outset (5 OTs played about as adherent to a structure as is possible).
I'm so glad we got to see this.