Quinn Hughes had just spent an entire evening at Rogers Arena being told what Vancouver thought of him. Boos in warmups, boos during the anthems, boos every time he touched the puck, and chants of “quitter” and “Quinn Hughes sucks” for good measure.
Then he walked into the Minnesota Wild dressing room and was handed the helmet the team awards to its best player of the night.
As he put it on, his teammates hilariously, and jokingly, booed him.
Hughes had been comfortably the best player on the ice, scoring on a rebound from a Joel Eriksson Ek pass in the second period and setting up Kirill Kaprizov for the Wild’s fourth early in the third.
Quinn Hughes against Vancouver:
| Category | Total |
|---|---|
| Goals | 1 |
| Assists | 1 |
| Career points after the game | 501 |
How many points does Quinn Hughes have?
The goal in the second period took him to 500 career points, a mark he reached in 520 games. Only Brian Leetch, who needed 496, has got there faster among American defensemen. Hughes has three goals and 13 assists through 13 games this season.
“Obviously, I knew 500 was coming up, but I don’t go into years looking at things like that. I’m just trying to push myself every game,” Hughes told Wild+ reporter Kevin Gorg. “I play with a lot of good players and a lot of the guys over there helped me get there, Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, Filip Hronek.”
READ MORE: Vancouver fans had a brutal chant ready for Quinn Hughes
The night wasn’t entirely hostile. During the tribute video in the first period, the booing broke into a mixture of cheers and whistles, with parts of the crowd standing to applaud. Hughes skated out from the bench and raised his stick, and both sets of teammates tapped theirs on the boards.
“I was just proud,” Hughes said afterwards. “Obviously I was here for six-and-a-half years, tried my best. And got some cheers there. That was cool for me.”
Once the cameras had gone, he told the room something shorter. “On a personal note, that one meant a lot to me.”
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