The Ducks earned it — the game and the expected-goals battle both.
The underlying numbers said this was a close contest—expected goals split 4.55–3.84, less than a goal separating the teams. The scoreboard told a different story: Ducks 4, Devils 1. The gap came down to goaltending and execution.
L. Dostal was immense. He stopped 32 of 33 shots for a 0.970 save percentage, translating to 2.84 goals above expected. On the game's seven high-danger chances against him, he was perfect. That's not the footnote to an otherwise tense contest—that's the game itself.
New Jersey's goaltending, by contrast, leaked. J. Allen made 25 of 28 saves (0.893 SV%), beating expected by 1.55, but his team scored just once. The Devils created the volume they needed—8 high-danger chances, 9 rebound opportunities—yet converted zero of their seven true chances. That level of profligacy won't appear often.
Anaheim won by force. The Ducks were lethal in transition, converting 4 goals on 26 rush chances. That asymmetry—clinical finishing versus desperate searching—turned a close xG split into a rout. Shot attempts favored New Jersey slightly (29–33), but the Ducks' quality was unmistakable.
The Devils couldn't break through despite sustained pressure in the crease. They crashed the net effectively, generating rebound after rebound. The issue was finish: in a game where possession remained competitive, special moments—a perfect goaltending performance and precision on the rush—proved decisive.
