Hughes Leads Metropolitan to Victory With Three Goals | GAME STORY

LAS VEGAS, NV - Devils center Jack Hughes didn't win MVP at the NHL All-Star Game, but he certainly made a strong case for himself, scoring the go-ahead goal to clinch the semi-final for Metropolitan Division in a 6-4 win over the Pacific and then scoring a breakaway beauty as part of Metro's 5-3 win in the Final over the Central Division.

ALL STAR COVERAGE
METROPOLITAN 6, PACIFIC 4
Box Score
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Advanced Stats
Highlights
METROPOLITAN 5, CENTRAL 3
Box Score
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Advanced Stats
Highlights
ALL-STAR GAME VIDEOS
3-ON-3 - A Special Panel Wraps up the Weekend
Hughes Post-Game Interview
ARTICLES AND BLOGS
GAME STORY: Hughes Leads Metropolitan to Victory With Three Goals
FEATURE: Jack Dazzles with Skills Competition 'Magic Trick' 
BLOG: Hughes, Longtime Friend Zegras Squaring Off in Breakaway Challenge
THREE THINGS: Hughes Takes on Vegas for First All-Star
SKILLS & MEDIA DAY VIDEOS
Hughes' Breakaway Magic Trick
DEVILS NOW: Hughes Pulls Off Trick
RAW: Jack and Mini Jack
Jack Talks First All-Star Game with NHL Network
RAW: Zegras Talks Hughes
RAW: Hughes at All-Star Media Day
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Zac Bell: POV Glasses at All-Star
WHAT'S NEXT
The Devils embark on a three-game road trip starting Monday against the Ottawa Senators. Puck drop is 7:08 PM ET and it can be seen on MSG+.
The MVP winner ended up being Philadelphia's Claude Giroux, who had a goal and an assist in the first game and two goals in the second.
"He's obviously been a great player in the league for a lot of years," said Hughes when asked about the MVP recipient. "He's a good guy too, so it's good to get to know all these guys and be around them."
Hughes had two goals in the first game and a goal and an assist in the second, equalling Giroux's output of four points on the day. A case could have been made for Hughes to get the car instead but when asked about that, Hughes said that didn't particularly matter to him.
"it doesn't really matter at the end of the day," said Hughes. "I was here. I had a great time. My family enjoyed it and a lot of friends and family are texting me and just telling me how excited they were that I was here. So at the end of the day, it was nice that I scored and stuff, but just a special weekend (either way)."
Hughes talked about his Metropolitan squad taking a bit of time to get into it in their first matchup with the Pacific.
"Yeah, that first game is probably pretty sleepy," he said. "So we're lucky we got out of that one, but I think the second game, the boys were pretty dialed in and working hard."
Hughes remarked that the quality of play in the second game was similar to what you'd see in an NHL three-on-three overtime while the first game was more of a lackadaisacal affair on both sides.
"I think in that second game, (the quality of play) was pretty up there. It's fun to get on the board and score a few goals. So I had a lot of fun out there and I really enjoyed it."
Hughes mostly played on a line with his metropolitan New York area rivals, Adam Pelech of the New York Islanders and Chris Kreider of the New York Rangers.
"It's definitely it's weird for sure," Hughes said when asked about playing with those two players. "Especially guys that we're big rivals with. I know (Kreider) pretty well from the past and obviously (Pelech) has been a really good player for awhile. I think it was good and we had a lot of fun out there today."

SEMI-FINAL: METROPOLITAN 6, PACIFIC 4
Hughes scored two goals, including a late go-ahead marker as the Metropolitan Division defeated Pacific Division 6-4 to open the all-star tournament.
The goals came quickly as Metropolitan Division took on Pacific Division to one the event.
Only 13 seconds in, Tom Wilson scored, beating John Gibson of the Anaheim Ducks. Pacific responded a couple of minutes later to tie it up on a goal by Timo Meier but then 30 seconds after the Meier goal, Claude Giroux and Sebastian Aho scored 12 seconds apart to put the Metropolitan ahead 3-1.

The latter half of the opening period (each game is comprised of two 10-minute periods) saw the goaltenders start to shine. John Gibson made some nice stops and at the other end, Fredrik Andersen was impressive, particularly in denying Connor McDavid on a breakaway.
After one, shots on goal were 13-7 for the Metropolitan as they had a 3-1 lead.
For the second period, Tristan Jarry went in goal for the Metropolitan Division while Thatcher Demko skated between the pipes for the Pacific.
The scoreless stretch ended 2:57 into the second period as hometown hero Jonathan Marchessault redirected a feed top corner past Jarry.
Midway through the second, Jordan Eberle fired a shot top shelf past Jarry to tie the game at 3-3.
With 3:44 to go in the final frame, Jack Hughes scored on a great feed by Adam Pelech, redirecting the pass by Demko to put the Metropolitan back in front 4-3.
Jake Guentzel added an insurance marker less than a minute later and Hughes followed that up with an empty netter to make it 6-3.

Mark Stone added a goal with 22 seconds to go to narrow the gap to 6-4 and Pacific nearly scored again at the buzzer but time had expired.
Shots on goal were 26-15 through the 20-minute contest.
FINAL: METROPOLITAN 5, CENTRAL 3
Only 27 seconds into the game, Evgeny Kuznetsov scored to give the Metropolitan Division an early lead.
Just over a minute later, Clayton Keller tied the game up. That tie was short-lived as Claude Giroux quickly whipped a shot past Central Division netminder Cam Talbot.
Jack Hughes then assisted on a goal by Chris Kreider midway through the opening period to make it 3-1 for the Metro.
Nazem Kadri scored just over 30 seconds later to make it a 3-2 game.

With two minutes to go in the first, Hughes broke in all alone and neatly wristed a shot from the top of the crease past Talbot for his third goal in the tournament and fourth point, extending Metro's lead to 4-2.
Shots on goal after one were 13-9 for the Metropolitan Division.
Jusse Saros replaced Talbot in goal for Central and Tristan Jarry subbed in for Frederik Andersen to start the period.
Just over a minute into the second, Joe Pavelski scored to bring the Central back within a goal.
Giroux netted his second of the game 90 seconds later, knocking down a pass and quickly backhanding the puck past Saros to put the Metro back in front by two at 5-3.
Central Division nearly made it a one-goal game with 1:45 to play, though it was reviewed and determined that it was offside.