The Wild defenseman has 11 points (one goal, 10 assists) in 10 games since he was acquired in a trade with the Vancouver Canucks on Dec. 12.
Danila Yurov scored twice, Yakov Trenin had a goal and an assist and Joel Eriksson Ek had two assists for the Wild (25-10-7), who have a five-game point streak (3-0-2) and are 10-1-2 in their past 13 games.
Filip Gustavsson made 26 saves after he was named to Team Sweden for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 earlier Friday.
Beckett Sennecke and Troy Terry scored and Lukas Dostal made 29 saves for the Ducks (21-17-3), who have lost five in a row (0-4-1).
Minnesota went on a power play at 5:29 of the first period and the Wild scored 10 seconds into the man-advantage for a 1-0 lead.
Hughes, who was named to the U.S. Olympic team’s preliminary roster in June, took a shot from above the right circle that hit Eriksson Ek in front of the crease. Jackson LaCombe and Cutter Gauthier were unable to clear the bouncing puck before Kirill Kaprizov shot it into the net at 5:39.
Dostal made nine saves to help kill two minor penalties on Sennecke in the first five minutes of second period, but Yurov scored at 8:10 to make it 2-0. Hughes took a slap shot from the left point that went off the stick blade of Trenin, off the right skate of Yurov and into the net.
Sennecke cut it to 2-1 at 13:46 when the puck came to him off a face-off in the Minnesota zone and he scored with a spinning wrist shot from above the left hash marks for his NHL rookie-leading 13th goal of the season.
Minnesota re-established the two-goal lead 59 seconds later.
Hughes fed Trenin for a one-timer from the right circle and the puck hit Dostal in the midsection before sliding through his pads for a 3-1 lead at 14:45.
Yurov tipped in a shot by Hughes to stretch the lead to 4-1 at 3:21 of the third period.
Nico Sturm scored shortside from the left circle of the rush to make it 5-1 at 15:02.
Terry scored from in close off a face-off win for the 5-2 final at 17:26.
