Jack Hughes Breakout Season in Full Effect And Its Only Been One Game

A few minutes behind starting this blog because I just finished throwing up after watching Jack Hughes’ absolutely GROSS overtime winner. Almost everyone in the hockey community said Hughes was due for a breakout year, and boy is he proving them right so far. Granted, the Devils have only played just over 60 minutes of hockey, but there were so many bright spots in tonight’s game.

Hughes looked awesome in tonight’s game, having 2 goals and with some awesome scoring chances. A quick turn-around shot beat Blackhawks’ goaltender Kevin Lankinen’s short side to give New Jersey a 2-1 lead. Hughes looked very confident on the puck tonight, reminding fans of how he played when with the US National Development Program. You could tell when he got the puck on his own blue line, he was not passing it, he was scoring the game-winner. That’s what you want to see out of your former #1 overall pick and your team’s future.

Hughes’ game-winner was gross, but what might’ve been more awesome was his stick toss celly. The first game with a full house at the Prudential Center in over 500 days, and the stick toss made it that much cooler. What an ending to tonight’s game.

Newcomers like Dougie Hamilton, Dawson Mercer, and especially Jonathan Bernier looked awesome in their debuts in the red and white. As a lifelong Devils fan, it’s so exciting to see the Devils finally have a defenseman who is extremely reliable and can get pucks on the net easily. Scoring 17 seconds in on your first shot as a Devil to make the place go absolutely bananas made it that much better too. Head coach Lindy Ruff was quoted saying “he gave us no choice but to have him on the roster” when talking about rookie Dawson Mercer. Besides the killer double minor penalty late in the game, Mercer showed real offensive talent, putting a shot on net allowing Andreas Johnsson to tap in a gritty goal. Jonathan Bernier stood on his head all game, shutting down numerous scoring chances for Chicago.

There were many sloppy moments from the Devils, but that will come with a young team with a lot of new faces, especially early in the season. Missing three starters, the Devils fought to earn their first two points of the year against a talented Blackhawks squad. The Devils next game is on October 19 against the Kraken, looking to improve to 2-0.

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