Five things we learned from Games 1 and 2 of Stanley Cup Final

With both the Washington Capitals and Vegas Golden Knights soaring into the Stanley Cup Final playing their best hockey of the season, it was hard to find anyone in the hockey world that thought this would be anything but a long, tight and hotly-contested series.

Through six periods, two games and a nail-biting win for each club, the matchup has so far stuck to the script. The Golden Knight hold a slight 8-7 edge in goals, as well as the advantage in shots (73-54) and slot shots (28-24), while the Capitals have controlled the puck in the offensive zone for just under a minute more than Vegas while out-chancing Vegas 46-40.

We have a good ol’ fashioned heavyweight slugfest on our hands, and here’s what we learned about this now-best-of-five series through the first two games.

Gerrard Gallant has faith in his fourth line

Vegas’s fourth unit of Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Ryan Reaves and Tomas Nosek has had a far bigger impact through the first two games than anyone could have imagined — unless you’ve paid attention to how Gallant has deployed the trio since the start of the playoffs. The Golden Knights head coach hasn’t quite rolled four lines consistently, but has given them lots of high quality minutes and has rewarded them for some of their strongest shifts by throwing them right back out, without hesitation, no matter who is on the ice for the Capitals.

Gallant is clearly very comfortable deploying that line, and he’s been rewarded mightily for his confidence in the trio. In Game 1, the fourth unit was on the ice for three of the team’s six goals, including the game-tying, winning and insurance markers.

Lars Eller’s got game

The first-period injury to top-line centre Evgeny Kuznetsov could have been a devastating blow for Washington in Game 2, but his production both at even strength and on the power play was replaced in a big-time way by Lars Eller.

The 29-year old has looked good all postseason long, but when gifted an extended role and more important minutes after the injury to Kuznetsov, Eller was especially great in contributing a goal and two primary assists while being involved in every Washington goal on Wednesday. He now has six tallies and 11 assists for a 0.81 points-per-game clip — quite a bit higher than the 0.47 PPG mark he posted in the regular season.

Reaves and Wilson have had their moments

For better or worse, the most polarizing player on each team has had their time in the spotlight for various reasons through the first two games. Wilson scored a goal in the series-opener and became the focal point of yet another controversial incident — this time a late, blind-side hit on Jonathan Marchessault. After what surely was a diligent review process by the NHL, Wilson did not receive any supplemental discipline.

Reaves, meanwhile, was all over the place in Game 1 in the best way possible. His pressure and puck retrieval on the forecheck made him a nightmare for Washington’s defence to handle, and he rode the momentum from his series-winner against the Jets to score the game-tying goal — which itself was mired in controversy when a blatant cross-check on John Carlson right before the goal went uncalled.

Holtby is winning the goalie battle

As is often done, we expected the Stanley Cup Final to come down to goaltending, but it hasn’t been the guy with the .947 save percentage entering the series who has had the edge through two games. Braden Holtby was nothing short of spectacular in Game 2, stopping 37 of 39 shots he faced as Vegas controlled the majority of the play and outshot the Capitals 29-15 over the final two periods. This ridiculous stick save on Alex Tuch in the dying minutes could turn out to be the defining moment of Washington’s Stanley Cup run.

Fleury, who was pretty much the consensus pick to win the Conn Smythe Trophy (win or lose) before this series began, has been just OK through Games 1 and 2, posting an .870 SV% while not looking nearly as sharp with his positioning, movement and recovery as he did in the first three rounds when he stopped nearly 95 percent of the pucks he saw and added four shutouts.

Unexpected heroes aplenty

Game 1 saw Nosek — the 25-year-old rookie who tallied 15 points in 67 games this season — play a postseason-high 20 shifts while netting both the game-winning and insurance goals and adding three hits and two blocks to his career night.

Somehow, an even less-heralded point producer stole the show in Game 2, as Capitals blue-liner Brooks Orpik recorded the game-clincher after going 220 games without finding the back of the net.

Yeah, things are getting weird.

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