Winnipeg's special teams didn't just win this game β they made Seattle's five-on-five hockey irrelevant before the second intermission.
Winnipeg's perfect 3-for-3 power play dismantled Seattle before the halfway mark, and a 58.3% faceoff dominance starved the Kraken of possession time to respond. This Pacific-vs-Central bubble matchup turned into a playoff-race statement for neither side β but WPG's special teams made the outcome unambiguous.
β‘TURNING POINT
Connor's second-period power-play goal at 12:09 pushed the lead to 3-1 and gave Winnipeg a two-goal cushion on a team that had generated nothing at 5v5 since the opening frame. With SEA carrying 6 penalty minutes to WPG's zero, the Kraken had no mechanism to respond in kind β the structural advantage was permanent.
πWHY WPG WON
β’
A 3-for-3 power play converted every opportunity Seattle gave them; all three man-advantage goals came before the midpoint of the game, building the margin before SEA could stabilize.
β’
Faceoff dominance at 58.3% kept Winnipeg in offensive-zone possessions and denied Seattle clean breakouts, directly enabling the shot advantage of 31-24.
β’
Hellebuyck conceded 0.40 goals below league average on 24 shots β in a four-goal winning margin, that cushion removed any SEA comeback scenario.
πWHY SEA LOST
β’
Fourteen giveaways directly fed Winnipeg's transition game and generated the penalty-kill situations that cost Seattle three goals.
β’
Seattle took 6 penalty minutes to Winnipeg's zero β gifting a 100% power play unit three goals against a team already ahead.
β’
Grubauer conceded 1.20 goals above average on 31 shots; in a four-goal game, that margin was the difference between a contest and a runaway.
Three Stars
Mark Scheifele1st
WPG, C
0G 3A 3P4 shots on goal22:44 TOI
His three assists bridged all three power-play goals, making him the connective tissue of every WPG man-advantage sequence.
Jonathan Toews2nd
WPG, C
1G 1A 2P1 PP goal14:31 TOI
Scored the first power-play goal to erase Seattle's early lead and added an assist on the second, anchoring the second unit's production.
Kyle Connor3rd
WPG, L
2G 0A 2P3 shots on goal1 PP goal
His two goals β including the algorithmically decisive 3-1 marker β bookended Seattle's collapse and sealed the margin.
