New Jersey Devils: Jack Hughes Breaks An Impressive Record Against Islanders

The New Jersey Devils hit the ice on Friday night wearing their Reverse Retro sweaters at home for the first time this season. It was a nice look. Seeing the young stars like Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, and Jesper Bratt wear those old colors was super cool.

The game got off to a good start for the Devils as they went up 1-0 on a goal scored by Nico Hischier. It was a sweet snipe while on the power play to get the home team on the board.

The rest of the game didn’t really go the way of the Devils, however, as the Islanders later found themselves up 4-1. Dawson Mercer scored to get the Devils within two again but New York responded with two more to make it 6-2.

At that point, you didn’t think the Devils would have a chance in this one. Well, Tomas Tatar made it interesting by scoring a goal to get it to 6-3. From there, Jack Hughes attempted to do his best Superman impression.

Already having an assist on Mercer’s goal, Hughes was clearly feeling good. He was sensational in the final stages of the game. First, he scored a goal to get the Devils back within two. That came with the goaltender pulled.

Jack Hughes put on a show in Newark against the New York Islanders.

New Jersey lost 6-4, but it wasn’t without this monster effort from Hughes. It wasn’t even the fact that he had a goal and an assist. It is because of the way that he was playing.

Lindy Ruff made the odd decision to pull the goaltender with around seven minutes left in the game. The Islanders didn’t score on the empty net once, and it is because of the way that Hughes dominated that final stretch.

Hughes ended up with 26:13 minutes of ice time, which is a lot for a forward. The part of the game with the goalie pulled is where he started to see his ice-time numbers rise to unusual highs.

His second to last shift of the game was 1:31, which is a really long NHL shift. However, that is weak compared to his final shift; 6:02. He did not leave the ice at all during the final stretch of the game, and it was remarkable to watch. You never see that ever. Literally ever. It was an NHL record for the longest shift.

He skated around with the puck a lot and made some great plays to give his team a chance. He scored that goal which was his second point of the night, but he also helped generate some shots that hit the post. The luck wasn’t there for the Devils, but it proves this is a game of inches.

Hughes also showed how badly he wanted to win in those closing moments. The celebration after his goal was unreal, but he also blocked two hard shots from going into the empty net.

These types of efforts (even when it seems like you don’t have a chance to win) tell you what kind of player he is. If that rubs off on the whole organization, they will win big soon enough.

Hughes’s next chance to play with his teammates will come on Monday against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. We’ll see what kinds of other tricks he’ll pull out of the bag in this one.