Hughes ‘difference-maker’ as Wild advance to Western 2nd Round

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- This is why the Minnesota Wild got Quinn Hughes.

To have him on their side for a big night in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. To have him make the biggest plays in the biggest games, authoring signature spring moments. To have a superstar defenseman take over like a point guard and dominate like arguably nobody else can.

The Wild got Hughes because they know they can do great things when he plays like he did in Game 6 against the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference First Round at Grand Casino Arena.

Hughes wrapped two goals around an assist, controlled the game on every single one of his 28 shifts, for every second of the 28:55 he played, and the Wild rolled to a 5-2 come-from-behind, series-clinching win to advance in the playoffs for the first time since 2015.

They will face the Colorado Avalanche in the second round.

"What he's capable of doing as a hockey player is pretty special," Wild forward Matt Boldy said. "I think you've seen that ever since he's come to Minnesota, the jump that we made as a team. Every aspect of our game has been better with him being on our team. When one player has that much of an impact and leads the way he does and steps up in the biggest moments, it's pretty special to have him on the ice and have him have the puck."

It felt like Hughes had it all night long.

He got the Wild going, giving them a 1-0 lead at 6:23 of the first period with a wrist shot from the top of the left face-off circle after dragging the puck to the inside with such silkiness to ruin Radek Faksa's chances of blocking the shot.

Hughes picked up the only assist on Vladimir Tarasenko's goal that got the Wild back even, 2-2, at 17:02 of the second period. It was his shot from the left point that created the chance for the puck to ping-pong to Tarasenko's backhand in the slot.

And then, with 9:22 remaining in the third period, it was Hughes smartly delivering the puck to the net from the left side, looking farside for center Ryan Hartman but knowing traffic was there and the chance of the puck banging in off a skate or a leg or a body was good.

It hit off Stars defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin, got past an aggressive Jake Oettinger, and set off a celebration that got louder and louder as Boldy scored a pair of unassisted empty-net goals in the final 1:31.

"'Hughesy' was at the top of his game tonight," Wild coach John Hynes said. "He was a difference-maker in many different ways. Obviously, the way that he drove offense and was able to score, but I thought in general his competitive nature tonight -- puck battles, defending, the way he skated and competed throughout the game on both sides of the puck, was high level."

There was an uptick in confidence and belief for what the Wild could accomplish this season as soon as they acquired Hughes in a trade with the Vancouver Canucks on Dec. 12.

"When you have a player of that caliber, he just changes the dynamic of your team and the way your team sees itself," Wild captain Jared Spurgeon said.

Said Hynes, "I would say the second part of that is who he is, how he plays, the type of character he has. He fit in really well with the group. He's a great teammate. So, you're adding a superstar player that is a superstar person."

Hughes, for his part, said he doesn't think about his ability or the opportunity to author signature performances like the one he had Thursday.

"I probably think similar to what 'Bolds' and Kirill (Kaprizov) and Brock (Faber) are thinking before games," he said. "These guys are ultra-competitive. You see shifts where this guy (Boldy) is clearly trying to take over the game. That's what we're trying to do, put our impact on the game."

He said he learned more about how to do that, how to be the guy who puts on the signature performance when the lights are the brightest, by playing for Team USA and winning gold at the Winter Olympics in Milan in February.

"You can't have a bigger moment than what we had," Hughes said. "Definitely playing in the quarters against Sweden, which was an unbelievable team, but then Canada. I mean, just Hall of Famers all over that game. A game that comes around not even once every four years because you don't know if Canada and the U.S. will get to the gold-medal game. The last time it happened was 2010, right? So, a game that happens every 16 years. So, a lot of pressure. And I think that's allowed us, or at least for myself, just to continue to grow in games like this."

There will be more games like the one he dominated Thursday. Bigger games.

Opportunities grow as the playoff field shrinks.

The Wild are part of the second round for the first time since 2015. The Avalanche are next, which means a chance to beat the Presidents' Trophy winner, the best team in the League, undefeated in the playoffs so far after sweeping the Los Angeles Kings.

This is why the Wild got Hughes.

For these games. For these moments. For the chance to compete for that trophy.

"That's what he does, and he does that every night," Faber said. "It's no surprise. Big time players step up in big time games, and that's what he did."