McDavid never got a good shot. The puck went behind the net. Hughes kicked it out to defenseman Zach Werenski in the corner. Werenski got it up to Hughes in the middle of the ice. He chipped it up past Canadian defenseman Cale Makar, and Werenski chased it down in Canada’s zone.
Werenski won a quick puck battle with forward Nathan MacKinnon, gained possession low in the right face-off circle and saw Hughes wide open across the ice in the left circle.
“‘Z’ found me,” Hughes said.
Hughes buried his shot under Canadian goalie Jordan Binnington’s left pad.
“I’ve always known how good Jack is,” Werenski said, “but I think he reminded the world how good he is tonight.”
Hughes did that throughout the tournament, overcoming personal adversity to be at the center of the biggest moment.
He’s gotten used to it.
Hughes has gone through so much in his career at just 24 years old, including multiple shoulder surgeries, a fluke hand injury this season that kept him out for 18 games, and even a lower-body injury that prevented him from playing in the last three games before the Olympics.
He arrived here healthy enough to play at the start of the tournament, but he was still relegated to the fourth line as a right winger in Team USA’s first game against Team Latvia during the preliminary round on Feb. 12.
Hughes is a No. 1 center for the New Jersey Devils. He has never been on the fourth line.
“Obviously, the last couple of years a lot of things have happened to me, but I was talking about it earlier, it’s not even so much the injuries, it’s like your whole [career] you’re going up against things, there’s always new adversity, new challenges,” Hughes said. “Every single player in that game tonight, Canada and U.S., when they were six, seven, eight years old, every single player went through so many things. You’re just grinding, and you’re grinding, and you’re working your way up. … It’s a journey. It’s the whole lifetime of work and I’m just a part of that.”
He quickly climbed the U.S. depth chart with his play, finishing the tournament with seven points on four goals and three assists in six games.
“I think Jack had a terrific tournament from the first game on,” Sullivan said. “The goals he scored were big-time goals. It’s an emotional roller coaster when you go through these experiences, and I just think Jack was at the center of a lot of the good things that happened for our team.”
He was the centerpiece of the greatest thing to happen for Team USA since 1980: a cracked tooth, and a bloody, sweaty American hockey hero.
“I’m happy it happened to him,” Quinn Hughes said. “My best friend, but also a special player.”