San Jose erased a third-period deficit to steal a playoff-seeding win, and the margin was built on a dominant center pairing and a goaltending gap that Anaheim could never close. With both teams fighting for Pacific standing, SJS's faceoff dominance and third-period execution were the structural reasons ANA's shot advantage meant nothing.
β‘TURNING POINT
Celebrini's goal at 18:21 of the third converted a 3-3 tie into a 4-3 lead with 99 seconds remaining β too little time for Anaheim to respond and no timeouts left to reset. With ANA's power play having gone 0/5 all game, they had already exhausted their most reliable path back.
πWHY SJS WON
β’
San Jose won 58.6% of faceoffs (41 of 70), generating clean zone entries and denying ANA the puck retrieval cycles their shot volume depended on.
β’
Celebrini produced 2G and 2A in 24:03 of ice time β a single player dictating the game's final shape across all three periods.
β’
Askarov conceded 0.10 goals below league average on 31 shots; in a one-goal game, that margin held.
πWHY ANA LOST
β’
Dostal conceded 1.90 goals above league average on 21 shots β in a four-goal game, that margin was the difference.
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A 0/5 power play eliminated any ability to manufacture offense through structure; 31 shots produced three goals and no man-advantage conversions.
β’
Nine giveaways against nine SJS takeaways handed San Jose the transition opportunities that generated the third-period goals.
Three Stars
Macklin Celebrini1st
SJS, C
2G2A4P4 SOG+324:03 TOI
His two third-period goals β including the game-winner at 18:21 β directly caused San Jose's comeback and the final result.
Will Smith2nd
SJS, C
1G2A3PPPG18:31 TOI+2
His power-play goal opened scoring and his assists on both Celebrini third-period goals made him the primary architect of the winning sequence.
Alexander Wennberg3rd
SJS, C
1G20:48 TOI
His goal at 19:29 sealed the win with 31 seconds remaining, converting Celebrini's setup into the insurance that ended the game.
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San Jose's center depth β Celebrini and Smith combining for seven points β exposed Anaheim's goaltending margin and made a 10-shot deficit irrelevant.
