On Saturday night Michigan Hockey shouldered off a dismal start, colossal refereeing shenanigans, and a generally uneven effort in the first thirty minutes to erupt and grab their most thrilling win of the season. A 5-4 come-from-behind victory over Penn State that cemented the team's first weekend sweep in the B1G, and it was powered by Luke Hughes' historic night, a four goal performance by a defenseman no less. With Brian taking the hockey column for the week, I thought I'd do something a little different: film room.

Today we're going to be looking at Hughes' Saturday night game against the Nittany Lions in a shift breakdown manner. I went back and watched every Hughes shift and collected the ones that I feel say the most about where his game is right now, including the goals yes, but also aspects of his transitional play, defensive zone play, and facilitation of the offense. With that in mind, here are his most memorable 14 shifts from Saturday night, categorized by topic: 

 

Joining the Rush

Luke Hughes' greatest asset as a hockey player is his skating ability, as is the case for both of his brothers. His place as a transitional weapon was something we talked about last year with Hughes' thrilling, Bobby Orr-like end-to-end rush goal against Ohio State, and it's remained that way into this season. But Hughes isn't just a threat in transition when he's skating with the puck; what a smooth-skating puckrusher adds to a team is the ability to join the rush easily to create odd-man opportunities for his team. A couple shifts stood out to me as encapsulating this. 

This first sequence is a classic example of defense-to-offense, even if Michigan doesn't get anything out of it:  

Penn State comes in with a 3v2 and Hughes is the defenseman closest to the intended passing target. He has his eyes on the puck carrier but also has a good feel for the location and gap of the back-side F. He extends his stick to challenge the pass and though he doesn't get a piece of it, he forces the pass to be in a position that is then behind the intended target's stick. It bounces off the PSU F's skates, Hughes picks it up, and here comes the transition opportunity: 4v3 for Michigan. Nothing comes of it once he enters the offensive zone, but Hughes' adequate defense turns defense into offense in the blink of an eye, which is what you want a defenseman in his position to be able to do. The more odd-man opportunities you create, the more goals you're going to score, even if one didn't go in here. 

Here's clip #2: 

Hughes begins the clip to the bottom of the screen

Hughes checks the Nittany Lion off the puck and it rolls to Erik Portillo behind the net, beginning the breakout. Fantilli picks it up, and sensing two Lions deep in the zone, Hughes gets on his horse and creates another 4v3. Hughes joining the rush gives Michigan the man-power advantage to gain the zone with possession and they eventually get it to him at the point. What happens? A wobbling wrist shot beats Liam Souliere between the legs for a (ugly) Michigan goal. This play encapsulates how joining the rush can create possession entries for teams and how, unlike the first play, it can wind up in the back of the net from time to time. Hughes' ability to get out of his own end and flip the switch from defense to offense bolsters his team's attack and it's a positive trait that is going to aid him in the NHL as well. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: More goals and defense]

 

Killing Penalties 

Michigan had to kill some penalties in this game, not the least of which coming after the five minute major tomfoolery. What did I see from Luke Hughes on the PK? Overall positive events. He was on the ice for the goal against during the five minute penalty, yet I felt that what preceded the goal was the best play Hughes made on the kill all day. In fact, I could've classified it in the previous section: 

It's another end-to-end rush from #43, set up by a nice firm check from Keaton Pehrson to create the loose puck. The rush itself is marvelous, coast to coast drawing in four PSU players and giving some much needed relief for his teammates. Hughes chooses to shoot rather than ragging the puck into the corner, which is what I would tell him to do if I were his coach reviewing the tape, but regardless, the shot is not the problem. All of this is fabulous stuff, killing off 15+ seconds singlehandedly and showing how his speed and puckhandling are assets shorthanded too. The issue comes from no support by his teammates. When a defenseman goes on a SH rush, it's on the forwards to fall back and support. Instead, Nolan Moyle attempts an aggressive pinch at the blue line (on the PK!!!), loses control, and an OMR is created the other way, which PSU scores on (despite Hughes backchecking hard). It's a goal, but Hughes in no way is at fault here. Merely a shame that his best shorthanded play came moments before a goal. 

Hughes is a skilled player, which makes this next play nice to see, old-fashioned greasy defending. Later on in the five minute penalty kill, Hughes is parked on the backdoor of the net when a wrap-around attempt comes: 

DENIED! The pokecheck jars the puck free and a subsequent puck battle ends with Keaton Pehrson getting it up to Mark Estapa and the Wolverines clearing the zone. The above clip is a huge one from Hughes because not just is he helping Portillo by preventing the wrap-around, but if you watch it again, there was a blue jersey camped out at the top of the crease for a potential pass too, which would've been more dangerous than a wrap-around given that Portillo was over in time. A defenseman in that situation has to prevent a pass and ideally a shot, and Hughes does both. He got fine marks from me on his PKing for the evening. 

 

Hunting his shot 

Luke Hughes took eleven shots on goal in this game(!) and had seventeen shot attempts(!!!). He was Michigan's most shot-happy player by far and watching his game, I came away fixated on the manner in which Hughes was hunting his shot, like a great goalscorer. He was using all the tools in his arsenal to free himself for a shooting lane and was consistently looking to shoot over pass, a good decision given his dead-eye shot the entire night. 

He was doing it right from the get-go, but it took him a little bit to be successful with it. On his fifth shift of the game, Hughes attempts two shots from the point into traffic and neither get through: 

Nothing exciting happens here, but it was the earliest indication that Hughes was looking to shoot, shoot, shoot on Saturday night. On his very next shift, we see him doing his signature shimmy to try and free up an open shot, but it gets broken up: 

He pump-fakes to draw in the defense and if he can just turn the corner, I'm expecting either a shot from the circle or a pass into the slot. Alas, a PSU stick is in the way. 

These first two clips are tied together on his first goal, shown below: 

Hughes gets the puck at the left point and suddenly realizes he's faced with a defender that has no stick. He wants to shoot, as evidenced in the first clip in this section, but unlike the second clip, he's got a defender that will be easier to beat using his skating/agility. So Hughes convenes dance class. He cuts down the wing, circles high, fakes inside and cuts out and finally has lost his defender, who, without a stick, has no way to make up the ground. The shooting lane is there, he walks in, and rips it. Great shot, and my favorite part is how he uses the space given to him by the defender. A lesser play would be to shoot the moment he saw the lane, but by trekking in a few paces further, he's able to increase the expected goals probability of the shot. There are very, very few NCAA defensemen (or frankly, NHL defensemen) who make plays like this, with so many lacking the physical (skating) gifts to pull this off. 

Finally, Hughes' shot inclined game appears in both his second and fourth goals. I'm not going to clip them, rather dropping in the Twitter clips of both, because little analysis is needed, but look how decisive he is: 

Luke Hughes hat trick watch is on!

U-M 2, PSU 3 pic.twitter.com/Q5dz3Jk9Io

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) January 29, 2023

HUGHES on a HEATER! Fourth goal tonight.#GoBlue pic.twitter.com/q6QA4qPGe1

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) January 29, 2023

These could easily be Alexander Ovechkin or Steven Stamkos clips, one-time bombs where there is not a thought in the world that Hughes is doing anything other than shooting. He's more shot-happy than his brother Quinn as a player overall, but this in particular was something to behold, a defenseman playing with the shot-taking mindset of some of the great goalscorers and again, when your shot is cooking like his was, sniping corners with pace, why the hell not? It's why Michigan won the game. 

 

Off Puck Defense

Late in the first period, Hughes finds himself as the one in a 2v1 against after a poor pinch from Seamus Casey: 

I ended up slowing this down and watching it over and over again. I wasn't able to ascertain if Hughes made contact with the puck or not, sending it off its path. But as any coach would say, the goal didn't go in, so the defender did enough. Hughes, I will admit, plays it rather oddly, initially placing pressure on the puck-handler before backing way off and then never going down fully to obstruct the pass (my preferred way of defending this), but my best guess is he did just enough with his body getting low to prevent an accurate tape-to-tape pass across, which is all Michigan needed in this situation. 

He was in a not-totally-different situation with the first goal that Michigan gave up, where a pass across is in question. On the first shift of the game, Hughes is part of a line of defense as PSU enters the zone: 

Hughes is the one in the slot, skating down the center of the zone. He's watching the puck, which gets whipped across, past the third PSU attacker in a line and all the way to the player on the far side, who fires it by Portillo. Without better replays, I couldn't really determine how that puck got across and whether there was anything Hughes could or should have done, perhaps using his stick more actively rather than passively watching, but I can't say this goal is "on him" in any way. I know this isn't terribly useful analysis, but it was the lone 5v5 goal against he was on for, so I had to mention it. 

When it came time to close the game out, we had to see Hughes put his gloves on because it was time to get dirty again. With under 10 seconds to go, Penn State has the puck in the zone with possession for one last chance. Xander Lamppa takes a shot from up high that Portillo stops with his right pad but there's a problem- the puck is loose at the side of the net, the cage is open, and two Nittany Lions are circling. All that stands between PSU and a tied game is one Luke Hughes:

He does all you could ask a defender to do in this situation, tying up the nearest attacker and using his body (in this case, skates), to ensure the puck doesn't go in. A bat at the puck goes off Hughes hogging the lane to the net, and the time runs out. Michigan wins. Hughes is not the world's greatest off-puck defender and he never will be, with plenty of kinks still to work out. But on Saturday night he was competent as a whole, and delivered positive results in the biggest moments. When you also score 4 goals, you're getting the job done. 

 

Puck Moving

Hughes did a lot of shooting on Saturday, but he's still a puck-moving defenseman to his core. His vision is superb for an NCAA player and it will be able to translate reasonably well to the NHL. There weren't too many passes that stuck out to me from Luke's game, but I did have two I particularly liked. First: 

This is all Hughes' mobility again, the accelerator to get down the wall and get a separation step from his opponent, and then he displays tremendous vision coming around the corner and finding Eric Ciccolini in the slot all alone. It's a solid pass too, but not quite on the tape and Ciccolini can't get a shot away. Still the right idea for a play and he gets 90% of the way there, which is farther than the vast majority of all college hockey defensemen would get. Bonus points for creating more offense as the cycle continues by flinging the puck on net for a potential deflection, which Souliere saves. 

Here's a pass of the vertical variety I liked: 

This one may look simple once Hughes gets a good outlet pass from Pehrson, but it's not easy. Fantilli has a slight step on the PSU defenseman, but it takes a very accurate pass to put that one on the tape, right in position for Fantilli to shoulder off contact and drive the net. It doesn't result in a goal, but this is a high-danger look off the stickblade of Hughes, a testament to his ability to move the puck even on a night where shooting was his focus. 

 

Any Final Thoughts? 

This will surprise no one, but Luke Hughes' performance in this game was masterful. Goals were 4-2 Michigan with him on the ice and 3-1 at 5v5. Of the two goals against, neither were definitively on him and one of which was actually a great play from him, done in by a lack of support by his teammates. It's not really possible to do a UFR style grade for Hughes, but I feel confident in saying it would've been the highest for any defenseman in a Michigan game this season, in terms of impact on the game. Hughes completely and totally changed this game for Michigan through his skating, skill, and desire to hunt his shot, which happened to be doing its best Ovechkin impersonation on Saturday night.

He played with tremendous feel and aggression and he was the straw that stirred Michigan's drink offensively, the best offensive player on the night. Combine that with the fact he was solid defensively, played heavily on the PK during that five minute major, and the fact he may well have played 25+ minutes, including what felt like 13-15 minutes in the third as Brandon Naurato used him with a variety of partners (basically every other shift).... yeah, this was an MVP performance in a game that changes the dynamic for Michigan's season (banks them a huge win in PWR and clears a plausible path to the BTT #2 seed). Phenomenal. Hughes has had a choppy sophomore season at times, occasionally frustrating in its inability to demonstrate clear progression from his dynamic freshman campaign, but this singular game on Saturday night? As good as you'll ever see from an NCAA defenseman.