NHL announces historic Quinn Hughes news during USA-Canada gold medal game

Heading into Sunday’s Olympic gold medal game against Team Canada, many believed that star defenseman Quinn Hughes would play a pivotal role for Team USA. That proved to be true early in the first period when the U.S. took a 1-0 lead on a Matt Boldy goal just six minutes into the opening period. On that play, Hughes recorded an assist — his seventh of the Olympics and eighth overall point — which proved to be a historic feat for multiple reasons. “Quinn Hughes collected an assist on Matt Boldy’s game-opening goal and tied Ryan Suter (0-7—7 in 12 GP) for the second-most career assists by an American defenseman during the Olympics with NHL players. Brian Rafalski (5-8—13 in 17 GP) has the most,” the NHL announced. Additionally, Hughes’ eight points are now tied for the most points by a defenseman in an Olympics tournament involving NHL players, tying Erik Karlsson (four goals, eight points) in 2014 and Brian Rafalski (four goals, eight points) in 2010. Hughes’ seventh assist also established a new benchmark for the most assists by an American in a single Olympic tournament that involved NHL players. More News: Fans Love What Alysa Liu’s Dad Did Immediately After She Won Olympic Gold He also became the first American skater to have a point streak of six or more games during a single Olympics involving NHL players, breaking a tie with former Minnesota Wild star Zach Parise, who had a five-game point streak in the 2010 Games, according to ESPN Insights. Hughes is one of the top scorers through the first half of the NHL season, logging five goals and 57 points across 52 games, tied for 27th in the league and fourth among all defensemen in scoring.