What Quinn Hughes just said about the Avalanche is raising eyebrows
Quinn Hughes gave John Hynes the night Minnesota had waited 11 years to see.
Hughes did not just help the Wild close out Dallas. He took over the biggest game the franchise has played in a long time and dragged it across the line.
Minnesota beat the Stars 5-2 in Game 6 and advanced to the second round for the first time since 2015. Hughes finished with 2 goals and 1 assist.
That stat line only tells part of it. He looked like the best player on the ice when the series was ready to flip either way.
His first goal came at 6:23 of the first period, a clean wrist shot over Jake Oettinger's glove after he drifted into space and picked his spot.
The bigger one came at 10:38 of the third. Hughes stepped into the moment again and scored the winner that finally broke Dallas for good.
Afterward, Hughes sounded like a player who understood exactly what this meant.
He then added :
-
Quinn Hughes’ comments on the Avalanche are turning heads
That was the real story in Minnesota. Not only that Hughes scored, but that he looked fully in command of the game's tempo when the pressure hit its peak.
Hynes said Hughes was “at the top of his game” and called him a difference-maker on both sides of the puck. That fit what the game looked like shift after shift.
Hughes' own quote after the win was even more revealing. He said the Wild “wore them down throughout the series” and pointed to the fourth line, the third line, and really the whole lineup.
That says plenty about the buy-in on this team. Hughes was the star in Game 6, but he made it clear he sees this run as a full-group win, not a one-man highlight night.
He also did not duck what comes next. Hughes said Minnesota always knew it would have to get through Dallas and then Colorado, and called the Avalanche probably the best team in the league.
That is a sharp read from a player who just delivered the biggest Wild performance in years. Hughes ended the drought, pushed Minnesota through, and still sounded like a guy already staring at the next monster.
|
YESTERDAY
APRIL 30, 2026
| ||||
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Quinn Hughes | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Leo Carlsson | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Chris Kreider | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Troy Terry | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Matthew Boldy | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Cutter Gauthier | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Mavrik Bourque | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Wyatt Johnston | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Connor Murphy | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Vasily Podkolzin | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Ryan Poehling | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Vladimir Tarasenko | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Michael Bunting | - | 1 | 1 | |
| John Carlson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Colton Dach | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Leon Draisaitl | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Matt Duchene | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Brock Faber | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Marcus Foligno | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Kasperi Kapanen | - | 1 | 1 | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||