Jack Hughes didn’t need much help making headlines to open the season. He scored the overtime winner in the New Jersey Devils’ 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on ESPN Thursday night, and his younger brother Luke Hughes also found the net for New Jersey.
But the moment that really got people talking came between periods, when Hughes stopped for an in-game interview with ESPN’s A.J. Mleczko.
Mleczko tried to turn last season’s bizarre finger injury into a light joke, referencing the cut Hughes suffered at a team dinner that required surgery and cost him 18 games. She said, “Well, it’s great to see you healthy,” followed by, “Let’s wrap you in bubble wrap and use plastic cutlery this year. Does that sound good?”
Hughes clearly wasn’t in the mood for that kind of humor in the middle of a game. He shot back, “I mean, I think that’s a weird joke midgame,” and skated off.
If the exchange was meant to rattle him, it didn’t work. Hughes came back and finished the night with the biggest play of the game.
It’s been a packed stretch for Hughes, too. The source notes that he scored the game-winning goal in the Olympic gold medal game and then gave an interview with a bloody mouth.
It also says he later went to the White House, had a disagreement with the Hall of Fame, appeared on “Saturday Night Live,” and dated and then broke up with Tate McRae. Against that backdrop, a freak dinner-table accident might be the last thing he wants brought up on live TV.
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