“Back across it comes…Jack Hughes wins it! The golden goal for the United States! For the first time since the 1980 Miracle, the United States takes The Gold!” – Kenny Albert, NBC Gold Medal Game Broadcast.

It has been a whirlwind 72+ hours for New Jersey Devils’ star Jack Hughes. On Sunday, he scored the golden goal in Team USA’s triumph over Team Canada in the Men’s Ice Hockey Gold Medal game in Milan, Italy. On Monday, he and his Team USA teammates flew to Miami, Florida, and went clubbing to celebrate their victory. On Tuesday, Hughes and approximately 19 of his Team USA teammates went to The White House For The State of The Union address. Then, on Wednesday, it was back to Newark, New Jersey, as Hughes and the Devils hosted the Buffalo Sabres in their first game back from the Olympic break, falling to the Sabres 2-1. 

Jake Allen drew the start in net against the Sabres and stopped 28 of the 30 shots he faced. Opposing him was Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who stopped 27 out of 28.

Hughes’ Team USA teammates, Tage Thompson, gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead 8:10 into the second period when he sniped the puck past Allen, from the slot, off a feed from Peyton Krebs. 10:36 into the third period, Thompson returned the favor by feeding Krebs, who beat Allen to give Buffalo a 2-0 lead. Timo Meier got one back for the Devils at 17:30 of the third period, off a goalmouth scramble, but that was as far as New Jersey got. 

The low-scoring game is nothing new for the Devils, as they’ve been held to one goal or less 20 times so far this season. One of the key reasons behind the Devils’ lack of scoring in this game was their power-play, which went oh-for-two on the night and is 0-for-14 over their last five games. The one positive was that New Jersey’s penalty-kill remained strong, turning in a perfect three-for-three performance against Buffalo.

Now, getting back to Jack Hughes…

Before the game against Buffalo, his old Head Coach with the Devils, Lindy Ruff, spoke to the media about Hughes’ golden goal, saying, “I don’t know if they could have picked a better…from a scoring standpoint, personality standpoint, energy standpoint, a better guy to score the goal. And even bigger, he looks better with a few teeth out!”

Meanwhile, Hughes’ current Head Coach, Sheldon Keefe, addressed the media Wednesday morning and said he expected Hughes to play his normal minutes allotment in his first game back with the Devils since missing the team’s final three games before the Olympic break due to a lower-body injury.

“We’ll see where he’s at when he gets here today,” said Keefe. “Getting a proper rest is probably the most important thing and we’ll just see where he’s at and take it from there. My intention is to play him as I normally would.”

Hughes ended up with an ice time of 21:25, which is actually 28 seconds higher than his per game average this season. He was also credited with an assist on Meier’s third-period goal and almost scored one himself, his shot hitting the post seconds before the game ended. 

“This is a tough one for Jack here tonight,” Keefe said after the game. “Everything that he’s been through, it’s been a whirlwind. He just got here just before the game, or just before our pre-game stuff begins with our meetings and such. So even when he got here, it was a bit of a whirlwind, with all the different meetings we had. We had to put him through for preparation to play and then some media obligations, even before the game and all sorts of stuff. You weren’t gonna get Jack’s best here tonight, but I still thought he made some plays and put us in some good spots.”

Before the game started, the Devils honored Hughes and Team USA’s accomplishment by having the middle Hughes brother give a brief Babyface-style promo on the ice, with him saying, “I’m so proud and I’m so happy that the Men’s and Women’s USA hockey teams brought Gold Medals back to the United States of America,” before shaking hands with Co-Owner David Blizter and his family. 

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“It was a great tribute to the US team and his performance and that iconic moment that he had,” Keefe explained. “So it was well deserved. I thought the fans were tremendous. First coming out and giving that reception to him, so that was terrific. As for his game, I mean, he had a lot of short shifts early and Jack’s not a short shift guy. If he’s giving you short shifts, you know he is not quite feeling it early. But I thought, as the game went on, now he’s stretching his shifts and he’s wanting to be out there and you almost kind of have to pull him off because he wants to make the difference. So I thought he started to be more like himself. Obviously, the one mistake in the third period that ends up in our net. But, all things considered, Jack gave us a lot.”

“His life’s changed forever,” Allen said about Hughes’ Golden Goal. “We were saying the other day how, obviously, he was a superstar player and an athlete and a really good person; the face of this organization. But now, it’s gone tenfold obviously for him…He’s a funny kid and he’s a very confident kid, but I think he just probably, deep down, really wanted to appreciate the fans. He’s got so much support since that goal happened on Sunday. I’m sure I can’t even imagine being in his shoes.”

At just 24-years-old, it’s hard to fathom just how much Hughes’ life has and will change after scoring his overtime winner against Canada. But, for now, he’s just dealing with it as things come.

“It’s been some of the best three days of my life, probably,” Hughes said after New Jersey’s loss to Buffalo. “Had so much fun with this group of guys and I’m sure everyone on this team probably wishes it was still going, but nice to get back in the routine and get back with my teammates here.”

With his historic accomplishment in the books, Hughes was asked for his thoughts about his goal potentially being viewed like Mike Eruzione’s in 1980 and Sidney Crosby’s in 2010, as something that inspires a new generation of hockey players. 

“It’s just a moment, right?” Hughes pondered. “It’s an unbelievable moment of my life, but like, I’ll never be the guy that’s crazy about it, ’cause it’s all about the team and it’s just such an unbelievable group of guys that we had and I’m so looking forward to the times we’re gonna enjoy. Hopefully, every year we get together and enjoy this moment. But, for me, it’ll never be about the Golden Goal. It’ll always be about our three weeks at the Olympics and that we’re champions and just what a special group it was. So, like I’ve said a million times, I’m just so proud to be American and so happy that we could get the job done.”

photo by Nick Cahill