Most surprising moments of Stanley Cup Final mulled by NHL.com

Two games into the Stanley Cup Final and there have already been several memorable moments, be it the jaw-dropping save by Washington Capitals goalie Braden Holtby at the end of Game 2, the winning goal by Vegas Golden Knights forward Tomas Nosek in Game 1 or the pregame ceremonies at T-Mobile Arena.
But what has been the most surprising moment through the first five days of the Final?

RELATED: [Complete Golden Knights vs. Capitals series coverage]
On the eve of Game 3 at Capital One Arena on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS), we asked several NHL.com writers what has stood out. Here are their responses:

Tim Campbell, staff writer

Physical players are not exempt from playoff impact but the contributions from Tom Wilson of the Capitals and Ryan Reaves of the Golden Knights in the first two games have surprised me.
In Game 1, Wilson scored a goal and had nine hits, and Reaves scored to start a three-goal rally in the third period, and had three hits.
In Game 2, Wilson had six hits, Reaves three.
Each player's presence has demanded opponents raise their awareness in the series. The fact that there is no free ice is not surprising this deep into the playoffs. What's surprising is the characters at the heart of this part of the plot.

Mike Zeisberger, staff writer

Is the clock approaching midnight for Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, the Cinderella story of the NHL's fairy-tale team?
Through the first three rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Fleury was the leading candidate for the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. His 12-3 record and four shutouts were outstanding; so, too, were the nature of some of his saves, including a diving soccer-like stop on Winnipeg Jets forward Mark Scheifele in the Golden Knights' 4-2 victory in Game 3 of the Western Conference Final.
It probably was unrealistic to think he could keep up that ridiculously high quality of play. Then again, how many of us thought it would be unrealistic for the expansion Golden Knights to make the Final when they played their first game last October? Pretty much everyone.
Truth be told, Fleury has looked shaky at times through the first two games, even directing a puck into his own net in Game 1. That goal was credited to Tom Wilson.
Heading into Game 3, Fleury has been beaten seven times on 54 shots for a save percentage of .870. That will have to improve if he wants to hoist the Stanley Cup for a fourth time.

Dan Rosen, senior writer

Brooks Orpik scored a goal. Are you guys honestly suggesting something else that has happened so far is more surprising than that?
No offense to the Capitals defenseman because he's not paid to score goals, he's paid to prevent them, but it was shocking to see him score in Game 2. And it wasn't just a goal, it was the game-winning goal.
Orpik hadn't scored since Feb. 26, 2016, a span of 220 games, including 39 in the playoffs. He hadn't scored a goal in the playoffs since he was playing for the Pittsburgh Penguins on April 21, 2014, a span of 55 games.
Fleury will bounce back. Reaves and Wilson will continue to make an impact with their physicality. I think I can say with some degree of certainty that Orpik won't score another goal.
Or maybe he will, and what a story that would be.

Nick Cotsonika, columnist

How about Tomas Nosek scoring the last two goals in the Golden Knights' 6-4 victory in Game 1?
The 25-year-old fourth-line forward had scored eight regular-season goals and one playoff goal in his NHL career. He had never scored multiple goals in an NHL game. And here he was Monday, one-timing a pass from defenseman Shea Theodore into the net to give Vegas a 5-4 lead at 9:44 of the third period, and icing the game with an empty-net goal at 19:57.
I thought he'd had his one shining moment in Game 4 of the Western Conference Final against the Winnipeg Jets, when he took an offensive-zone tripping penalty, watched forward Patrik Laine tie the game 1-1 on the power play, and then responded with a goal 43 seconds later to put Vegas ahead 2-1.
But he topped that. You never know who the hero is going to be on any given night.

Tracey Myers, staff writer

OK, I'll look at something outside of the games. Sort of.
I'm surprised at those who dislike the Vegas Golden Knights' pregame show for the first two Stanley Cup Final games. Seriously, this is one bombastic, fantastic, supercalifragilistic display. The jousting, the lights, the stringed instruments ushering in a performance by Imagine Dragons prior to Game 2; it was all awesome.
No, it's not creating that much later of a start time. No, it's not too over the top. It's Vegas, for crying out loud, and it's perfect for the location. Did you expect something mundane?

Amalie Benjamin, staff writer

I knew this was going to be big for Alex Ovechkin. It was, after all, his first appearance in the Stanley Cup Final after 13 years in the NHL, years in which he was consistently blamed for the Capitals failure to win the ultimate prize.
But I have been surprised about how openly emotional he's been through the first couple of games of this series. You don't normally see the ups and downs that Ovechkin is going through quite so clearly. In this series, you do.
It's all right there on his face, in his expressions, in his gestures: This means absolutely everything to him. I'm not surprised about that part. I'm surprised about how he's showing everything he's feeling. And that will again be abundantly clear, I'm sure, in Game 3 at Washington, his first Stanley Cup Final game at home.

Tom Gulitti, staff writer

Mine would have been Orpik scoring, which reminded me of when New Jersey Devils defenseman Ken Daneyko scored his first goal since Feb. 9, 1999 and first in the playoffs since 1995 in Game 1 of the 2000 Stanley Cup Final against the Dallas Stars. That was Dan Rosen's moment, so I'll go with Braden Holtby's remarkable save on Vegas' Alex Tuch with 1:59 remaining in Game 2.
Among the many Ovechkin emotional expressions Amalie mentioned, his best was his reaction to Holtby's save that preserved the Capitals' 3-2 victory. Sitting on the bench, Ovechkin covered his face with his gloves after watching Holtby lunge to his right and stop Tuch's shot out of midair with his stick paddle.
The Capitals have been doomed in past playoffs by strange bounces, such as the one off the left-corner boards that catapulted the puck across the front of the net to Golden Knights forward Cody Eakin in the right circle. But after Eakin passed across to Tuch, Holtby kept his calm and, like a soccer goalie on a penalty kick, guessed correctly where Tuch was going to shoot to make what people in Washington are now calling 'The Save'.