Jack Hughes got crushed and the Devils once again looked unprepared to protect him
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Daniel Lucente
Apr 6, 2026 (10:42)
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Photo credit: © David Kirouac-Imagn Images
Jack Hughes took a freight-train hit, Brenden Dillon jumped in, and the Devils again showed how thin their protection game gets around their star.
The clip below matters because Hughes drives New Jersey's attack every night. He sits at 25-47-72 in 56 games, and the offense still tilts when the puck is on his stick.
Dillon's response was not just emotion. It was lineup math, message sending, and a reminder that skill teams still need bite when traffic closes fast.
Josh Anderson knows that lane better than most. He has 13-9-22 with 77 penalty minutes, and Montreal uses him to drag games into the ditch.
That is why this scrum lands harder in April. The Canadiens have turned into a real Atlantic threat, while the Devils are still chasing air after an uneven season.
You can see the whole bench snap awake when Hughes gets clipped in open ice.
The raw scene tells you more than the box score. New Jersey respects Dillon for the answer, but the better fix is cleaner support through the middle and faster exits off the blue line.
Jack Hughes forces New Jersey Devils choices
Fans are right to read this as a warning flare, not a fun wrestling clip.
When Hughes gets touched, the ripple hits everything. Nico Hischier gets tougher matchups, Jesper Bratt loses space, and the top-six starts playing a half-step more careful.
Dillon has 89 penalty minutes, so this job already sits on his plate. The issue is that one policeman on the blue line does not solve repeated free runs at a franchise center.
New Jersey did beat Montreal 3-0 on April 5, pushing the Devils to 40-34-3. That result helps, but it does not erase the need for harder layers around Hughes.
Montreal, now 45-22-10, can live in chaos because its forward group attacks in waves. The Devils still look too dependent on one engine.
That is the real takeaway here. Hughes looked okay, Dillon did his part, and New Jersey still has to prove it can keep its star clean when the games get mean.
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Previously on HockeyLatest