Eller, Holtby among top performers for Capitals in Game 2 of Cup Final

Who played well in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final? Sometimes it's easy to tell, sometimes it isn't. NHL.com graded the players in the 3-2 victory by the Washington Capitals against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Wednesday that evened the best-of-7 series at 1-1. Here are the players and trends that stood out the most.

RELATED: [Complete Golden Knights vs. Capitals series coverage]

Honor roll

Lars Eller (Capitals) --The forward was omnipresent Wednesday, especially after he moved up in the lineup after forward Evgeni Kuznetsov sustained an upper-body injury in the first period. Eller scored the first goal and then assisted on goals by forward Alex Ovechkin and defenseman Brooks Orpik. This was two nights after he was minus-3 and missed a shot in the final minute that could have tied Game 1. Eller has 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He had six goals in his first 50 playoff games.

James Neal (Golden Knights) --The forward opened the scoring with a hustle play at 7:58 of the first period. He won a puck battle and then fired a perfect wrist shot past the glove of Braden Holtby. He also drew an illegal check to the head penalty against Orpik and had a strong cycle game.
Nicklas Backstrom (Capitals) -- The center, who is playing with an injured finger, was dominant for long stretches in Game 2. He started the sequence that ended with a power-play goal from Ovechkin to make it 2-1 at 5:38 of the second period.
Braden Holtby (Capitals) --It was a huge bounce-back game for the goaltender after he allowed five goals in Game 1. He was at his best during extended penalty-kill time in the third period when he made eight saves following back-to-penalties against the Capitals, including 1:08 of 5-on-3. His remarkable paddle save against Alex Tuch with 1:59 remaining prevented the game from being tied.

Matt Niskanen (Capitals) -- The defenseman played almost half the game (27:13), 3:09 more than John Carlson, who was second on the Capitals in ice time. Niskanen had three shots on goal, four hits and a blocked shot.

Stock watch

Imagine Dragons (up) -The Las Vegas natives started the game by playing their smash hit "Whatever it Takes" while stationed on the ice by the Zamboni entrance. It was the perfect end to another amazing pregame presentation from the Golden Knights.
Brooks Orpik (up) -- The veteran defenseman doesn't score much, but he had a huge goal in the second period, pinballing a shot off the post and in for his goal of any kind since Feb. 26, 2016, which was before the Golden Knights even became a franchise.

Vegas power play (down) -- Yes, they scored for the second consecutive game, but the Golden Knights failed to convert during 68 seconds of a 5-on-3 advantage, managing one shot during that portion of the power play.
Randy Couture (up) -- The six-time UFC champion was called upon to wind the siren to mark the start of the game. He nearly tore it off the hinges, getting an already fired-up crowd to reach a fever pitch.
Marc-Andre Fleury (down) -- Brilliant this postseason, Fleury struggled in back-to-back games for the first time. He allowed three goals Wednesday after allowing four on Monday. The seven goals he has allowed in two games to the Capitals are more than he allowed to the Winnipeg Jets in the last four games of the Western Conference Final (six).
Alex Ovechkin (up) --The Capitals captain has 13 goals after scoring a power-play goal in the second period to break a 1-1 tie. Mark Scheifele of the Jets is the lone player with more goals this postseason (14). Ovechkin had three shots on goal, five hits and an important blocked shot in the third period.

Ryan Reaves (down) -- The Golden Knights forward was coming off huge goals in back-to-back games, but his time was severely limited in Game 2. He played a team-low 6:56 and had one shot on goal and took a roughing penalty against Capitals forward Tom Wilson.

What we learned

Washington can survive injuries
Things looked bleak when Kuznetsov was injured, but the Capitals scored three goals after Kuznetsov left the game. Lars Eller, who took Kuznetsov's place, figured in all three goals. Eller also played elevated minutes when Backstrom missed four games with a right-hand injury.
Capitals thrive on physical play
Washington was stronger in Game 2, in part because it dictated the physical tone.
The Capitals were physically engaged in Game 1, but they stepped it up a notch Wednesday. Wilson and Eller had six hits each and Ovechkin had five. Orpik also had six hits. As a team, Washington had 46 hits, eight more than in Game 1.
Golden Knights can be defeated at home
Vegas lost for the fourth time this postseason, the second time at T-Mobile Arena (7-2). The Golden Knights lost after scoring the first goal for the second time this postseason (11-2).
They lost because they ran into a team that played a solid road game, hemmed them in their own end, clogged up the neutral zone and muted the Vegas forecheck.
Basically, the Capitals followed the formula the Golden Knights used to be dominant at home.
Golden Knights need to be tighter defensively
The first two goals, by Eller and Ovechkin, against Fleury in Game 2 came off cross-ice passes that exploit the aggressiveness with which he plays.
As Vegas defenseman Nate Schmidt said after the game, that is the way Fleury has played all season and those are the places on the ice that they want him. So it is up to the skaters to take away the passing lanes and better mark the Washington forwards to give Fleury more of an opportunity to be the difference-maker he was in the first three rounds.