The Blackhawks earned it — the game and the expected-goals battle both.
The 4-2 final understates Chicago's control. The Blackhawks dominated on the underlying numbers—capturing 60% of 5v5 expected goals at 4.30 to 2.82.
But the real gap was in shot quality. The Kraken generated expected goals at just 0.045 per shot, compared to Chicago's 0.072—a 60% quality advantage for the Blackhawks. This explains how a roughly even possession battle, where Seattle held 47% of shot attempts, turned into a rout. The Kraken underperformed their xG by 0.82 goals; had they converted to expectation, the final would have stayed close.
Ilya Mikheyev's wrist shot from the wing (P3, 18:48) marked the turn, crystallizing Chicago's dominance at a moment when the Blackhawks were already ahead in the underlying metrics.
High-danger chances split 5-5, but Chicago converted the ones that mattered. The Blackhawks went 3-for-5 on HD chances (60%); Seattle managed 2-for-5 (40%). Chicago's 34 rush chances produced 4 goals. A. Soderblom posted a 0.926 SV% and outperformed expected by 0.82 goals. P. Grubauer was even sharper—0.900 SV% and 1.30 goals above expected—yet it didn't matter. Some nights, elite goaltending can't overcome a fundamental quality gap.
