Devils 5, Canadiens 3: A Jack Hughes masterclass

No. 86 kicked things into high gear and completely dominated the game from start to finish.

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A few observations from New Jersey vs. Montreal:

The breakout is happening 📈

On Wednesday I wrote about the encouraging signs we were seeing from the Ondrej Palat - Jack Hughes - Jesper Bratt line and suggested a breakout was looming.

In short, they had looked dangerous by the eye, created chances at a good volume, and drastically underperformed in terms of converting expected goals into real ones. Given the talent, it was only a matter of time before that changed.

They certainly took a step in the right direction Thursday night against Montreal. Led by a vintage Jack Hughes performance, that line was unstoppable all night.

While all three players did their part, and then some, I was most encouraged by the fact it was Jack Hughes – not Jesper Bratt – clearly driving the bus.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with Bratt carrying the line on occasion. But a case could be made he’s been better than Hughes all season long.

When 86 is on his game, nobody on the roster – and few in the league – is better. And he was on it vs. the Canadiens.

Jack did all of the things you see from him when he’s at the peak of his powers. He was flying through the neutral zone and effortlessly navigated his way around anybody who stepped in his way. He was breaking angles in space, putting the puck through the feet of defenders, and consistently getting to the middle of the ice.

I think that’s a big key for Hughes. When he’s on the wall, defenders can kind of use that to their advantage knowing he only has one way to go with the puck. That wasn’t the case last night.

Hughes was taking the puck up high in the offensive zone and attacking downhill in space. Then, he could go left or right, he had teammates available to him everywhere, or he could simply use the extra space to change direction and beat guys himself.

The Devils generated 23 shot attempts during Hughes’ ice at 5v5. He primarily contributed to 14 of them, generating five attempts while assisting on nine (including two goals).

Hughes was nothing short of spectacular and Bratt and Palat complimented him famously. They accounted for three goals and, quite frankly, it could’ve been more. Very encouraging.

Jacob Markstrom was shaky 🥶