from Chris Ryan of NJ.com,

Jack Hughes finished the Devils’ 5-4 loss to the Washington Capitals on Sunday with one point — a secondary assist on a pass that missed its target and ended up in the Devils’ defensive zone before Ryan Murray found Yegor Sharangovich for a goal.

It’s also not hyperbole to say that was the best game of Hughes’ young career.

Despite the lack of major impact on the actual boxscore, Hughes was relentless with the puck from start to finish. He racked up 10 shot attempts, eight scoring chances and five high-danger scoring chances, with the latter two marking career highs.

The Devils had 2.78 expected goals when Hughes was on the ice — a mark that surpassed any game Taylor Hall played when he was with the Devils. Hughes himself had a career-high 1.05 expected goals based on his shot attempts.

The problem with expected goals, of course, is that there’s no guarantee any of those shots will actually go in. Hughes hit a post and a crossbar during the game. A backdoor feed from Hughes to Damon Severson resulted into Capitals goalie Ilya Samsonov robbing the defenseman with a glove save before the puck hit the open net.

“I don’t know how he pissed off the hockey gods, but it’s just not going for him right now,” center Travis Zajac said.

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