Big-Time Player | FEATURE

The Devils trailed the New York Rangers 2-0 late in the first period of Game 1 of their First Round Stanley Cup playoff series matchup.
New Jersey was working on a power play with less than a minute to play in the opening frame. New York forward Chris Kreider, who had already scored a goal in the period, chipped the puck around Devils defenseman Dougie Hamilton and into the neutral zone. Kreider skated ahead for the puck with no one in front of him and a clear lane to the net.
However, Jack Hughes was in pursuit.
By the time Kreider reached the puck, just inside the Devils blue line, Hughes had him lined up. That's when the 5-foot-11, 175-pound Hughes threw the weight of his mass into the 6-foot-3, 230-pound Kreider, inertia slamming the Ranger into the boards, dislodging the puck, eliminating a prime scoring chance for New York and bringing the sellout crowd of 16,514 fans at Prudential Center to their feet in cacophonous approval.
"That's not my game in the regular season. But it's playoffs. Things change," Hughes said. "It was my turn to do that. Nothing to do with the crowd, just playing hard."

The hit didn't just electrify the crowd. It kinetically jolted the Devils bench.
"He's been bringing that feistiness a little bit more, getting into people a little bit more," forward Jesper Bratt said. "He's an example of a guy that when he goes in to bump or hit someone, the group reacts. We get energy from that."
While, self-admittedly, hitting isn't part of Hughes' game, scoring certainly is. He leads the Devils with three goals in the postseason and was a major factor in New Jersey's ability to erase a 2-0 series deficit by winning Games 3 and 4 on the road at Madison Square Garden to transform this into a best-of-three series.
"Now we're really in this thing at 2-2. We're really excited with where we're at," Hughes said following Monday's 3-1 Game 4 victory. "When you're down 2-0, you're in the hole. We did a really good job of getting ourselves back to Square 1. Now, it's a best-of-three. Whoever can get two is going to move on. We did a great job of coming here and getting two wins.
"We like where we're at going into Game 5."
Offensively, Hughes has carried his record-setting regular season into the postseason. Hughes set a new franchise mark with 99 points on the year and persona high of 43 goals (he missed four games due to injury, otherwise he would have surely had a 100-point year).
But the regular season is one thing. Getting it done in the playoffs is what separates good players from great players.
"Obviously, you need your best players to be your best players," Hughes said before the series began. "We like our squad. I think all of us have to rise up to the occasion and bring our A Games in the playoffs."
Hughes has followed through on that dictum. And he hasn't just brought his offensive A Game.

Bus Driver
Leaders lead. It may seem to be a self-evident truth, and the definition of leadership may vary, but an act of leadership requires action.
For the Devils, Hughes has been on the forefront of such action.
"People listen to him. People follow what he does on the ice," captain Nico Hischier said. "He's driving the bus a lot of nights."
Throughout the course of a franchise-record breaking 52-win season, Hughes was the player scoring clutch goals or making clutch plays when the team needed it the most.
"When games got tight and we needed a goal, he was the guy we leaned on," defenseman Brendan Smith said. "One of the things you want to see out of a great leader is showing by example."
While Hughes, the first-overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, is blessed with God-given natural ability, the DNA lineage of two illustrious hockey parents, what drives him to excel and drive the bus is, well, his drive.
"Everyone will talk about his skill, but his competitiveness is what struck me as one of the most impressive things about him," Smith said. "He doesn't quit. I really admire that. For me, that's one of the best qualities he has."
Hughes is a passionate player. He doesn't hide his emotions on the ice, whether they be joy, frustration, exuberance or anger. Hughes leaves it all on the ice for all to see.
"He's a winner. You see how hard he works and how much he wants to win every game," Bratt said. "He's that kind of a guy. He doesn't have to say a lot. He shows it instead."
Even veteran players like two-time Cup champion Ondrej Palat is roused by Hughes' passion.
"What a gamer he is," said Palat, 32, who's played 10 years in the NHL. "He wants the puck. He wants to get to the net. He wants to hit people. The hit on Kreider was unbelievable to see. That shows his leadership."
Palat, Erik Haula, Tomas Tatar and Smith are the elder statesmen in an otherwise youthful locker room. And they've marveled at the maturity of Hughes in just his fourth season in the NHL.
"He's learning. He's a young kid," Smith said. "I like that he's a think-first kind of a player. He observes things. He asks lots of questions, which is a great thing for Nico and him, for young leaders.
"Jack is very smart and continues to be a better leader in this room. He says a lot of the right things."
Palat and Hughes wear an 'A' on their chest as alternate captains for a reason. It says a lot about Hughes' maturity that the team chose him for such a privilege.
"His on-ice leadership has been good," head coach Lindy Ruff said. "He has a lot of fire in him. If he doesn't like how things are going, he's not afraid to say something. Overall, he's a good teammate at a young age, guys respect that."

Defense First
The Devils held a slim 2-1 lead with 4:31 remaining in Game 4 at New York. It was a game the Devils desperately needed to avoid being down 3-1 in the series.
With an important faceoff coming in the Devils zone, they sent out their five-man unit. Hughes was amongst the five. Michael McLeod won the draw, and the Devils cleared the zone. After a 67-second shift - during which he cleared one puck from his zone and intercepted a pass in the neutral zone - Hughes went to the bench.
With 2:20 remaining in the game, Hughes jumped back onto the ice. He tied up the stick of Mika Zibanejad for an attempted one-timer, spoiling the Rangers' leading regular-season goal scorer of a chance. He dug the puck out the corner to flip it out of danger. He hounded Adam Fox as the defenseman went to retrieve a puck in his own zone. After a 75-second shift, Hughes was on the bench again.
The Rangers didn't get a single shot on goal in that final 4:31 of the game, 2:23 minutes of which Hughes was on the ice. With the Devils protecting a one-goal lead late in a must-win game, they turned to their superstar.
"I think his play away from the puck deserves a lot of credit," Ruff said. "He was up against some seasoned guys. He knew he had to be good defensively, and I thought he really was."
Hughes' offensive accolades receive a lot of praise, and rightly so, but his offensive flair for the dramatic can sometimes overshadow how good defensively he is.
"He can read the play. His understanding of the game is above average level," Hischier said. "He finds holes. He's always in a good spot. He's really good at stripping pucks, his hands. He reads the play well, then he can make these little stick lifts and strip the puck. He does that really well."
Hughes' defensive success is part talent, part sweat.
"He's got so much speed and can skate better than most people in the league. That's what helps him being in good (defensive) positioning," Smith said, adding: "Mostly defense is about work ethic and competing."
Speed: check.
Skating: check.
Work ethic: check.
Compete: check.

Big-Time Player
The Devils lost the opening two games at home in the series to the Rangers. They had the daunting task of needing to win Games 3 and 4 in the hostile confines of Madison Square Garden.
"They took two in our building," Hughes said. "We wanted to come in here and even the series up."
As if the Devils needed any more adversity, they found themselves trailing 1-0 in Game 3. Halfway through the second period, the Rangers' Artemi Panarin took a roughing penalty.
And that's where the series shifted.
Hughes had the puck above the left circle on the ensuing power play. With a screen in front by Palat, Hughes sniped a shot into the corner to tie that game at 1-1. The Devils went on to win the game, 2-1, on Hamilton's overtime winner.
Less than three minutes into Game 4, it was Hughes once again with a chance to be a difference maker. He took a pass (more a desperation flip out of the defensive zone by Jonas Siegenthaler) and raced ahead for a breakaway. Hughes deked before potting a goal to give the Devils a 1-0 lead 2:50 into the game. New Jersey held on for a 3-1 win that evened the series, winning both games at the Garden.
Hughes factored in both victories with goals.
"I love playing at the Garden," he said following the Game 4 victory. "Devils, Rangers, big-time players show up at the Garden. Whatever sport that is."
Under the brightest lights, the Devils brightest star shone brightest.
And the boisterous crowd took notice. Rangers fans booed Hughes every time he touched the puck, a sign of their displeasured affection.
"It's not like I was growing up wanting to get booed. It's whatever man. I'm just playing," Hughes joked. "They have really passionate fans. Obviously, you're doing something right if they're booing you."
Hughes is doing a lot of something right. Just playing is an understatement.
Big-time players show up when their team needs them the most That's exactly what Hughes has done, as he has done all season long. Whether it's been a big goal, a big defensive play or a big hit, Hughes has delivered.
"He's been doing that throughout the whole year, especially now in the playoffs," Bratt said.
And just like big-time leaders, Hughes' mentality is beyond the self.
"It's not about me. I just have to bring my game, continue to play well and help the team win in any facet that I can," Hughes said. "It's a team thing now. You want to do everything you can to push the team forward."