MILAN — “Quinn Hughes is coming,” Mike Sullivan declared one year ago in Boston, and the Earth shook in the hockey world with the news that one of the two best defensemen in the world, and certainly the best American defenseman, would be riding in like Batman for the final of the 4 Nations Face-Off, having missed the tournament to that point with injury.
Quinn Hughes, of course, did not come that day and the Americans, of course, lost in overtime, which is exactly what they did not do here because this time, No. 43 was on the ice wearing red, white and blue.
Hughes logged 27:31 as Wednesday bled into Thursday, the most ice time any Team USA skater has seen in a game all tournament, and 3:27 into overtime went post-and-in to end this breathless Olympic quarterfinal 2-1, the US of A over Sweden.
“Someone’s going to make a play in overtime,” Jack Hughes said. “And Quinn was the guy tonight.”
