Jack Hughes, on the ice for the penalty kill with 2 minutes and 51 seconds left and a 2-1 Devils lead, pressured Kings captain Anze Kopitar along the wall, forcing him into an errant pass to Brett Pesce along the far wall. He then opened up to receive a pass from Pesce along the Kings' blue line and took the puck in 1-on-2 on Kopitar and Brandt Clarke. While Clarke blocked Hughes's initial shot, Pesce followed up and snuck a shot through Kings goalie David Rittich to give the Devils a 3-1 lead.
It was just eight seconds, but those eight seconds clinched a hard-fought win for the Devils against one of the best teams in the Western Conference this season. The goal was Pesce’s first as a Devil, but even more surprisingly, the assist was Hughes's first shorthanded point in his six-season NHL career.
It was also a deserved reward for the biggest leap Hughes’ game has taken this season. Hughes’ increased defensive responsibility across the board has led to coach Sheldon Keefe trusting him to play a career-high 10 minutes and 34 seconds of penalty kill ice time this season.
Hughes commented that he was surprised that this part of his game had flourished this season. Speaking to reporters after the game, he said, “I didn’t expect it to be my game, but I’m happy they are giving me that chance. I think I’m continuing to learn. Every team we play I see really good players around the league PKing. Two of the best PK guys I’ve seen are (Jesper) Bratt and (Mitch) Marner . . . I’ve just got to keep learning and finding spots that are good for my team.”
As Hughes noted, coaches have called on elite NHL forwards to take the ice more frequently for penalty kill shifts in recent years, with the strategy being termed the “power kill.” The Devils Vice President of Hockey Analytics and Strategy Matt Cane has long been a proponent of the power kill, and the front office’s interest in the concept is shared by Keefe, who was one of the league’s biggest evangelists for the power kill with the Maple Leafs.
The Sheldon Keefe Maple Leafs had the luxury of playing their two best forwards, Auston Matthews and Marner, on the penalty kill with incredible success, as they are both former Selke finalists and defensive wizards. But he seems to be developing the forward group in New Jersey with the same vision in mind. While Bratt and Nico Hischier have had previous experience on the kill, Hughes has already doubled his career-high in penalty kill minutes. And if his results so far this season are any indication, he will have Keefe’s full trust to continue to cook there.
While Hughes’ limited ice time is only 211th among forwards in the NHL this season, Hughes has been among the very best penalty kill forwards in the league on a per-minute basis this year. He ranks 14 out of 212 forwards with at least 10 minutes of ice time in expected goals against. Even more impressively, he is generating the most shorthanded scoring chances in the league per minute, ranking first in scoring chances for and expected goals for shorthanded. All of that makes him the forward with the most significant percentage of expected goals in the league on the kill with a 37.40% rate of 12 percentage points better than the next best, Brock Nelson (25.83%).
Again, this is a very small sample of Hughes on the penalty kill, as some of the league’s most prolific penalty killers have 7 to 8 times as much ice time. But if it is a sign of things to come, it is an additional way that the Devils’ best player can impact the game positively for this team.
The Devils as a whole have scored four shorthanded goals, tied for third-best in the league— and have generated the third most expected goals per minute, behind only the Kings and Islanders. If that continues, teams will have to be more conservative on their power plays against the Devils to avoid chances going the other way shorthanded. In a league where the difference between a win and a loss come May is razor-thin, any advantage you can generate on special teams is welcome. But it’s nothing but a shock to see Jack Hughes leading the charge in this particular facet of the game for the Devils.