Holy Holtby

Vegas got the bounce, but Washington got the save. And the win.

A fluke bounce off the glass on a dump-in gave the Vegas Golden Knights a golden opportunity to knot the score with just under two minutes remaining in Wednesday's Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. But Caps goalie Braden Holtby stunned everyone in the building with a desperate paddle denial of Alex Tuch's apparent slam dunk from the top of the paint with 1:59 remaining, preserving Washington's 3-2 win.

Television cameras captured an astounded Alex Ovechkin on the Washington bench in the wake of that save. What was the Caps captain thinking in that moment?

"Thank God he's our goalie," answers Ovechkin. "He's over there when we need it. It was probably the save of the year for sure, and after that, we can't give up a goal."

And they didn't.

Several icings and defensive-zone face-offs later, the Caps closed out the Knights by that same 3-2 final, evening the best-of-seven set at 1-1 as the scene shifts back to the District for Game 3 on Saturday.

"It was a strange play," recounts Holtby of his game-saving save, "These boards have been really true. It was one of those things.

"We've been trying to get it up on the glass on our rims, because usually goalies stay in the net. But [Vegas goalie] Marc-Andre [Fleury] has been coming out to get those a lot, because they've been so true. And when it bounces weird at that time of the game, [Vegas center Cody Eakin] makes a great play to pass it over, and I was just trying to get something there, trying to seal where I thought someone would shoot that. And luckily, it hit me."

Wednesday's win was Washington's first ever in a Stanley Cup Final series, and it was also its first ever over the nascent Golden Knights. Oh, and Brooks Orpik supplied the game-winning goal, lighting the lamp for the first time in more than two years, since Feb. 26, 2016.

For the ninth time in as many home games this spring, the Knights got on the board first, and they did so in the first period for the ninth time in the 2018 playoffs.

Knights blueliner Luca Sbisa lofted a high flip from his own end of the ice to the Washington blueline. Caps defenseman Dmitry Orlov attempted to glove it down, but James Neal got a stick on it and knocked it down, creating some time and space for himself in the process. He then ripped a wrist shot past Caps goalie Braden Holtby, putting the Knights on top 1-0 at 7:58 of the first.

The Caps struggled to contain the Vegas forecheck through much of the first frame, but Washington got right late in the first, shortly after the only penalties of the period, a set of matching minors that resulted in a couple minutes worth of four-on-four hockey.

On an offensive-zone draw, Andre Burakovsky pulled the puck out of a pile and made an excellent play to get it cross-ice for Michal Kempny. Kempny sold Fleury on the shot, bit instead made a brilliant feed to Lars Eller in the slot. Eller calmly potted the puck into a yawning cage to make it a 1-1 game at 17:27 of the first.

Alas, the Caps lost the services of their leading scorer in the first, too. Evgeny Kuznetsov left the game with just over five minutes left in the period after taking a hard and high hit on the boards from Vegas' Brayden McNabb. Per the Caps, Kuznetsov has an upper body injury. He did not return to the contest, and Washington offered no further updates on his condition after the game.

The Caps forged ahead on a power-play goal early in the second period. From a few feet above the goal line, Ovechkin beat Fleury on the short side at 5:38, finishing a tic-tac-toe passing sequence and a sublime cross-ice feed from Eller to give Washington a 2-1 lead.

Four minutes later, the Caps took the first multi-goal lead by either team in the series, getting a goal from an unlikely contributor off the rush. Eller carried into Vegas ice and made a twisting feed to Orpik, who was gliding down the right side. Orpik let loose of a shot that hit Tuch and then the right goalpost before settling into the cage for a 3-1 Washington advantage at 9:41 of the second.

"Brooksie doesn't score a lot of goals," says Eller, "but that was a huge one. To have success in the playoffs, you need guys - every single guy - chipping in and sometimes they need to chip in in ways that they don't always do, and Brooksie came up huge for us.

"It was nice to see him join the rush. He was great tonight; he was one of the difference makers."

T.J. Oshie was boxed for cross-checking in the offensive zone late in the second, and Vegas needed only 20 seconds with which to net its second power-play goal in as many games in this series. Shea Theodore floated a shot through traffic from center point, and with Tuch blocking out the sun in front of Holtby, the shot found its way in at 17:47, shaving the Caps' lead to a single goal heading to the final frame.

Washington found itself in more penalty trouble early in the third, and Vegas found itself with a two-man advantage for 69 seconds. The Knights put pressure and pucks on Holtby and the Caps, but Washington held firm. Vegas poured nine shots on Holtby in a span of just 2:52 early in the third period, but the Caps goaltender had the answer for all of them.

Orpik played some boss hockey during that stretch, too. He had one shift that was 2:44 in length, most of it while Washington was down one or two men.

With the five-on-three kill in the rear view, the Caps went back to playing road hockey, and playing it well. Washington held Vegas without a shot on net for 10 minutes and 20 seconds, taking the clock down below four minutes in the process, and setting the stage of Holtby's heroic stop on Tuch.

Vegas forward Erik Haula lost his cool in a big way at the final buzzer, slashing Orpik open with a vicious two-handed whack, and drawing an inconsequential five-minute major for slashing and a game misconduct at the 20-minute mark of the third. Caps fans will recall Backstrom being suspended for a game for a similar incident after the final buzzer six years ago in a first-round series against Boston.

Washington has been dealing with and overcoming adversity all season, and it overcame the loss of Kuznetsov and a lengthy five-on-three penalty kill to even the series in a nail-biter of a Game 2.

"That was huge," says Caps coach Barry Trotz of the two-man disadvantage. "That was huge for us. Two things galvanized us. I thought the hit on Kuzy - we felt it was high and the player didn't return - that was one thing that galvanized us, and the other thing was that five-on-three. That really pulled our bench together, and then obviously an all in mentality. All year we've been very resilient, and we were today."