Here is Stephenson's third entry, looking back at the Capitals' 3-2 win in Game 2 on Wednesday and ahead to playing at home in Game 3 of the best-of-7 series at Capital One Arena on Saturday (8 p.m ET; NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS):
RELATED: [Complete Golden Knights vs. Capitals series coverage]
ARLINGTON, Va. --It's exciting thinking about playing in our first home game of the Stanley Cup Final on Saturday.
I saw the videos of the watch parties at Capital One Arena when we played the first two games in Las Vegas. It was crazy to see all the fan support back here. It makes us feels good.
We're looking forward to playing there again. We haven't played there since Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning on May 21.
It seems like a month, but I guess it was just a week and a half.
Getting the win in Game 2 at T-Mobile Arena on Wednesday was big. Now the series is tied.
That was a tough win. The guys were exhausted. Everyone gave everything they had.
We kept it simple. We didn't try to make too many plays or be too cute with the puck. When we did make plays, they were quick.
That's the type of team the Golden Knights are. They're on you quick and we tried to move the puck as quickly as we could and not give them any time to set up and tried to play our game as much as we could.
When Evgeny Kuznetsov was injured in the first period, it was a huge hit. He's one of the top players in the League and to have him go down, that's a big part of our team. But that just makes everybody come together and want to win that much more.
One of the best moments was when Brooks Orpik scored. He hadn't scored a goal in more than two years, so that was awesome to see.
He's one of the guys who have carried us this whole year with how he is as a person and how he is off the ice and how he leads by example every day. At age 37, to be able to play how he does as a physical, stay-at-home defenseman is quite spectacular. I don't think many people realize that.
He played a big role in killing off that 5-on-3 power play for 1:09 in the third period. That was big, especially on the road.
To kill one of those is a huge momentum boost and you can feel the guys are behind you 100 percent. Coach Barry Trotz showed a lot of faith to put me out there during it, so you have to fun with that, play your game and not let him down.
We practice it almost every day at the end of practice, the power play and the penalty kill. We have the plan that assistant Lane Lambert has given us from Day 1. From watching video on that, it's almost second nature now.
It felt like we were in Las Vegas for two weeks, so it was good to get home. We were up early Thursday. Our flight left Las Vegas around 9:30 a.m. PT.
I slept for an hour or so on the flight and then I was awake. After that, it felt like we were descending the whole time. I try to catch up with sleep as much as I can when we fly, but sometimes you can't get comfortable.
After the four-and-a-half-hour flight, we just wanted to get off the plane and go home. But after we landed at Dulles Airport, we had to wait for two hours to deplane because of a thunderstorm.
It was safety precautions. There's not much you can do about it. They were just looking out for us, but every minute that went by felt like 10 minutes.
We were just hanging out, playing cards, catching up, things like that, to pass the time.
It hasn't really hit me yet that I'm playing in the Stanley Cup Final. I don't know why.
You go out there and with the momentum of the game and how fast it is, you know it's a very special game and it means a lot. So, my mindset is not different in that sense.
It's still the playoffs and we're trying to win the Stanley Cup. We're trying not to think too much and I'm having fun enjoying where we're at.
I'm sure at some point during or after the series it will be something special to reflect on.
