Hughes on a Goal-Scoring Heater | FEATURE

Jack Hughes held the puck along the right wall. With a hard snap of his stick, he whipped the rubber across the ice to the opposite point and to the stick of defenseman Ryan Graves. Hughes drifted toward the faceoff dot undetected by the Rangers.
Graves' shot hit the body of Dawson Mercer and re-directed in the direction of Hughes. Dropping down to one knee, Hughes followed through with a quick shot at the goal. As goaltender Igor Shesterkin desperately pushed over and stretched out his leg, the puck slid along the ice and right under his left pad.
The red light illuminated. The Prudential Center crowd erupted. The goal tied the game at 3-3 with 9:28 remaining in the third period as the Devils clawed back from a 3-1 deficit.
Hughes, 21, eyed up the crowd, mixed with the exuberance of the Devils faithful and the dejection of the Rangers blue shirts. The 21-year-old tugged at his shirt and flexed the Devils logo on his chest at the masses.

"It's a crazy rivalry. It's pretty special how there are a ton of Rangers fans and a ton of Devils fans," Hughes said in the locker room following the game. "There was one shift in the third (period) when we tied it up, they were just screaming."
As for the demonstrative jersey pull?
"I was just representing Jersey."
That third-period goal was Hughes' second of the game, career-high 26th of the season and eighth goal in the past five games.
The Devils would complete the comeback in overtime on Damon Severson's winner. New Jersey not only defeated its most hated rival, but also added to their tight cushion in the Metro Division. The Devils entered the game one point ahead of the Rangers for second place in the division. They exited the game with a two-point lead.
"No, I didn't know that," Hughes admitted with a smile when asked about the standings by a swarming media at his stall.
The media followed up by asking if Hughes knew that he has eight goals in the past five games?
"I knew that, yeah," Hughes said flashing a wide grin.
Hughes has plenty to grin about lately. The two-time NHL All-Star selection also has 19 goals in his past 20 games, his 26 goals rank seventh (tied) in the league, he has an active career-long five-game goal-scoring streak and is on pace for 53 goals.

"The team has been taking a lot of steps. Personally, I've been taking steps," he said. "It's all part of the journey. I feel like we're in a good spot right now."
Hughes, the first-overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, didn't just score two goals against the Rangers, he did so while recording a career-high 10 shots on goal, besting his previous career high of nine shots accomplished just two days prior.
"Sometimes when you're shooting the puck a lot it doesn't go in, and sometimes when you're shooting a lot you get the bounces," Hughes said.
Hughes ranks fourth in the NHL in shots with 184 (behind only David Pastrnak, 203, Timo Meier, 191, and Alex Ovechkin, 187). He has six or more shots in each of the last six games.
Compiling shots isn't as easy as just putting the puck on the net. You have to find open ice in the offensive zone, you have to position your body in a way to get some power on the shot and you have to find a way to thread the puck through bodies and sticks.
Hughes has all the natural skill to be a great goal scorer. His skating and edge work allows him to weave around defenders. His hands allow him to dangle through tightly congested areas. The combination of skating and hands has helped Hughes create his own scoring opportunities.
Hughes' high hockey IQ allows him to anticipate where the puck will be, instead of chasing where the puck currently is. It's like a chess match and Hughes is three moves ahead of everyone else.

But ultimately, having all of those elements is one thing. There's something else Hughes has that helps separate him from the pack, and it's his intestinal determination.
"Everyone knows how skilled he is, how dynamic, scorer, passer, playmaker. But I think his drive, he's always going, always pushing to create and make plays," defenseman Dougie Hamilton said. "He just keeps going. That mixed with his skill makes for a good recipe for success."
With that mix, a player will certainly create chances and shots. The final touch is to actually beat the goaltender. Hughes' accuracy has been apparent, getting the puck through screens, defenders and goaltenders to catch the inside netting.
"He's hitting his mark. Sometimes it might be harder than you actually think," head coach Lindy Ruff said. "He's doing a good job of finding holes when there's traffic for him. The accuracy part is something that's really important."
Hughes' uncanny finish this season isn't by accident. It's the product of the work he's put in during three-plus years in the NHL, and a concentrated effort this past summer.
"My shot is something that I really focused on," Hughes said during training camp of his summer training. "I want to keep that scoring touch going and continue being a really big scoring threat. That was a big focus for me this summer."
That work has paid huge dividends.