LAS VEGAS — Many entered this Stanley Cup Final with a bit of reservation. It pitted two small, non-traditional hockey markets against each other, without a single major trophy finalist between the teams.Through two games, the Vegas Golden Knights and Carolina Hurricanes are essentially Russell Crowe, standing defiantly in the middle of the Roman Colosseum shouting, “Are you not entertained?”We couldn’t have asked for a more thrilling start to the series. First, Vegas became the first team in history to win Game 1 on the road after facing a multi-goal deficit in the Cup Final. Then, Carolina became the first team in 82 years to win a Cup Final game after trailing by multiple goals in the final 10 minutes of regulation.It has been a wild ride for the Golden Knights, with plenty of ups and downs. Today, we’ll look at what has gone right for Vegas and what has gone wrong.The goodTop defensive pairShea Theodore and Brayden McNabb have been at their best in this series. At least, they were until McNabb exited Game 2 after taking a slap shot to the face in the first period. It was a scary play, and coach John Tortorella has yet to provide an update beyond the fact that McNabb traveled home with the club on Friday.As gruesome as the injury looked, it wouldn’t be surprising in the least to see McNabb in the lineup for Game 3 with some sort of face shield. If he can’t go, it will be a massive blow to the Golden Knights because he and Theodore have been superb.In the 20 minutes that the two have played together at even strength, the Golden Knights have a decisive edge in shots (10-3), scoring chances (11-5), expected goals (1.29-0.56) and, most importantly, goals (4-1). On their own, those numbers are impressive. When you consider how lopsided the shots have been in the other direction when those two aren’t on the ice, they’re miraculous.Theodore and McNabb factored into four of Vegas’ five goals in Game 1, and were off to a great start in Game 2 prior to McNabb’s injury. The combination of Theodore’s smooth skating and McNabb’s stout defending has made them one of the most consistent pairs in the NHL for nearly a decade, and they’ve been that early in this series.In-zone defendingFor several seasons, the Golden Knights have played a tight zone defense that is content allowing the opposition to possess the puck around the edges of the zone in order to protect the slot, and it has worked well through two games of this series.The Hurricanes have dominated possession, but Vegas has held them out of the dangerous areas for the most part at even strength. The raw shot attempt numbers are staggering, 119-69 in favor of Carolina. They suggest the Hurricanes are caving Vegas’ defense in, but a look at the underlying metrics shows that’s far from the case.