Most improbable moments of 2017-18 season discussed by NHL.com writers

The 2017-18 NHL season was one to remember. The Washington Capitals won their first championship, winning the Stanley Cup Final against the expansion Vegas Golden Knights, who stunned the sports world with an incredible inaugural season.
The run by the Golden Knights to the Pacific Division title and the Final was among the most improbable things that happened this season. NHL Network will take a look at many of them on "Top Shelf: Most Improbable Moments of the 2017-18 Season," which premieres Sunday at 8 p.m. ET.

Before NHL Network unveils its list, NHL.com staff writers offer their picks for the most improbable moments of this season.

Shawn P. Roarke, Director of Editorial

Scott Foster is perfect for Blackhawks
Anyone who has ever strapped on goalie pads has dreamed of playing in an NHL game. Scott Foster lived that dream on March 29. An accountant by day and a men's league goalie by night, Foster was in the right place at the right time as the emergency backup goalie at United Center when the Chicago Blackhawks played the Winnipeg Jets. Anton Forsberg was hurt during the morning skate and the Blackhawks did not have time to get another goalie to Chicago.
Collin Delia
, making his NHL debut, started the game but was injured early in the third period. Foster put on his mask and skated onto the ice. He made seven saves and did not allow a goal in 14:01 of action. It was a dream come true for Foster, who had never played professional hockey at any level. Top that for improbable!

Dan Rosen, senior writer

Sidney Crosby juggles puck, scores
Expecting the unexpected from Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby has become the norm. But Crosby might have even outdone himself with his double-tap, juggle-puck, backhand-swat goal against the Montreal Canadiens at PPG Paints Arena on March 21. Crosby carried the puck down the left-wing wall, lost it, got it back and centered it to forward Jake Guentzel, who was at the left hash marks. Crosby cut to the net as the puck deflected off Canadiens defenseman Jeff Petry before it got to Guentzel. He one-touched it in the air to Crosby, who knocked the puck forward on his forehand and then batted it in past Montreal goalie Carey Price's glove with a backhanded swing. It takes an almost outrageous level of focus and deft hand-eye coordination to do what Crosby did. Many would say it's an impossible goal. Nothing is impossible for Crosby, but this was certainly improbable. Oh, and the Penguins won the game 5-3.

Nick Cotsonika, columnist

Golden Knights win Western Conference
It wasn't that improbable based on the regular season; the Vegas Golden Knights won the Pacific Division and finished fifth in the NHL standings. They weren't huge underdogs in the Western Conference Final even though their opponents, the Winnipeg Jets, had finished second in the League standings. But based on the fact the Golden Knights were an expansion team and that no one thought they would make the Stanley Cup Playoffs, let alone the Cup Final, it was completely ridiculous that they eliminated the Jets with a 2-1 victory in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final at Bell MTS Place on May 20. After shattering records for first-year teams in the regular season, sweeping the Los Angeles Kings in the first round and defeating the San Jose Sharks in six games in the second round, the Golden Knights rallied from a 1-0 deficit in the conference final and won four straight against the Jets. The player who scored the winner in Game 5? Forward Ryan Reaves, a Winnipeg native, who hadn't scored in 21 regular-season and six playoff games with Vegas after being acquired in a trade from Pittsburgh.

Tracey Myers, staff writer

Avalanche make the playoffs
The Colorado Avalanche were coming off a horrible 2016-17 season in which they finished with a League-worst 48 points. They had nowhere to go but up, but no one could have predicted the rebound the Avalanche made in 2017-18. Fueled by their top line of Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen, as well as a 10-game winning streak in January, the Avalanche fought for a playoff spot in the competitive Central Division. On April 7, in the final game of the regular season, they clinched the second wild card in the Western Conference by defeating the St. Louis Blues 5-2. The Avalanche lost to the Nashville Predators in six games in the Western Conference First Round, but it was nevertheless a tremendous turnaround season for Colorado.

Amalie Benjamin, staff writer

Brooks Orpik scores most unlikely goal
No one could remember the last time Washington Capitals defenseman Brooks Orpik scored a goal because, well, he doesn't really score them. In fact, he had gone through two consecutive regular seasons without a single goal, dating back to Feb. 26, 2016, a span of 220 games heading into Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final. So of course it was Orpik who scored the game-winner, the goal that would cement the Capitals' first win in the Final and send them on a run that would bring the Cup to Washington for the first time. It may have taken a deflection off Vegas Golden Knights forward Alex Tuch and a bounce on the ice on its way past Marc-Andre Fleury, but that hardly mattered. It was in, and Orpik had the third playoff goal of his NHL career. This, mind you, from a player who by the end of the Final had played in 149 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. If those numbers aren't good enough, it was the 19th goal for Orpik in a combined 1,131 regular-season and postseason games. If you're looking for improbable, I'd say that game-winning goal surely qualifies.

Tom Gulitti, staff writer

Braden Holtby's save
In the same Stanley Cup Final game as Orpik's unlikely goal, Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby made what has become known as "The Save" in Washington. With the Capitals clinging to a one-goal lead late in the third period, a dump-in by the Golden Knights took a strange bounce off the glass in the left corner and the puck skidded across the front of the net to Vegas forward Cody Eakin in the right circle. Eakin passed back in the other direction to
Alex Tuch
, who appeared to have an open net in front of him to score the tying goal. But Holtby reached back and knocked the puck out of midair with his stick paddle with 1:59 remaining, and the Capitals held on to win 3-2 and even the best-of-7 series at 1-1. If Tuch had scored, the Golden Knights would have had all the momentum heading to a potential overtime. Instead the Capitals seized the momentum with the first of four consecutive victories on their way to their first Stanley Cup championship since they entered the NHL in 1974.