Team USA needed someone to make a play if it was going to beat Canada in overtime of the gold medal game. Jack Hughes delivered for his team and his country, taking his place in American hockey history forever.
Hughes played an exceptional tournament from start to finish, so it was on natural that he made the game-winning play, which actually started in the defensive zone. Connor McDavid, the last person the Americans wanted to see zipping toward their net with the puck, looked determined to end the game.
On an island with McDavid, Hughes bumped McDavid and got just enough of the Canadian star to prevent him from turning the corner and getting to the front of the net. The Americans scooped up the loose puck and got started toward the Canadian end.
Zach Werenski and Dylan Larkin did good work to make sure they entered the offensive zone with numbers, and after winning an open-ice puck battle with Nathan MacKinnon, Werenski passed to Hughes cruising into the slot. Hughes wound up a wrist shot and let fly past Jordan Binnington’s glove to win the game.
That goal was Hughes’ fourth goal and seventh goal of the tournament, and he got there after losing a couple teeth one period earlier. Hughes took a high stick from Canadian forward that knocked out his two front teeth, but as is usually the case in hockey, Hughes didn’t miss a shift.
Hughes will be short a couple teeth in photos with his gold medal teammates, but I doubt he minds. Pictures of his toothless smile after scoring the game-winning goal will hang in homes throughout the United States for a very long time.
