Hughes spent loads of his ice time — a game-high 27:31 — controlling the puck. He played nearly two-thirds (2:03) of overtime and factored into both US goals, picking up a secondary assist on the first, a skillful Dylan Larkin deflection of a point shot from his brother, Jack Hughes.
“Unbelievable moment for our country and for USA Hockey,” Larkin said. “For him to do it, it gives me chills. Unbelievable performance out of him.”
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Quinn Hughes was injured and missed the 4 Nations Face-Off last February. The Americans are thrilled to have him back.
“He’s incredible,” blue line partner Charlie McAvoy of the Bruins said. “With his skating, his stickhandling, he’s able to create something out of nothing there and win us that hockey game kind of all by himself.”
Before USA-Sweden became the third of four quarterfinals Wednesday to go to OT, the atmosphere at Santagiulia Arena was a bit subdued for an elimination game. Maybe it had to do with all the Canadian fans who stuck around for the late quarterfinal, relaxing in the afterglow of their thrilling win over Czechia hours before.
Maybe it was the playing style, which was more methodical and detailed than explosive and exhilarating. Rather than rink-length rushes, offense largely came off of a blocked pass or shot, by stripping a puck, by grinding and gutting out a shift.
“It’s 40 of some of the best players in the world fighting at both ends of the ice,” Matthew Tkachuk said. “Not a lot of room on both sides, not a lot of heavy chances on either side.
“You put two really good teams together, and you think that it’s going to be this high flying offensive, but it’s actually quite the opposite. And it took one guy to make a play at the end, and that was Quinn.”
The Swedes were committed in front of Markstrom (38 saves), and found the goal they needed just in time. Mika Zibanejad finally beat Connor Hellebuyck on their 29th shot, with 91 seconds remaining in regulation.
Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy set the tone early for Team USA against Sweden with some crunching hits, including one on Gabriel Landeskog.ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP via Getty Images
Sweden had Markstrom pulled for seven seconds before Lucas Raymond’s cross-ice feed through traffic set up Zibanejad, who blasted it shortside.
“I was trying to figure out how it went in because I thought I made a really good push and feel like I should have had the save,” Hellebuyck said. “I was able to throw it away because, you know, there’s more hockey to be played.”
McAvoy had a monster game.
He fired up his teammates early by knocking down Joel Eriksson Ek, Gabriel Landeskog, Adrian Kempe, and Raymond. He patrolled the back half of the ice with authority. He finished with 19:22 of ice time.
He was a split-second late getting to Zibanejad’s shot with a sliding block, after the Swedes found a passing lane.
“You can’t ask Helly to make that save. We’ve got to get in a lane there,” McAvoy said. “So it was nerve-racking, for sure, when we get into overtime, but you saw our best players, their skill take over.”
The Swedes were a seventh seed with the roster talent of a top-four team, and were gutted afterward.
“Just empty,” Zibanejad, his voice barely above a whisper, said. “It’s tough.”
Sweden was without surefire future Hall of Fame defenseman Victor Hedman (lower body), who “tweaked something late” in warm-up, coach Sam Hallam said. It was 10 minutes before puck drop, Hallam said, so he could not substitute healthy scratch Rasmus Andersson.
Hedman, 35, was snubbed from the 2014 Sochi roster, and has said this will be his only Winter Games.
He dressed and sat on the bench.
“I mean, talk about a heartbreaker,” Swedish captain Gabriel Landeskog said. “To have to sit out, that’s … that’s … I was hurting for him. I really was. And I still am.”
Hedman’s minutes went largely to Bruins blue liner Hampus Lindholm, added two weeks before the Games as a replacement for the injured Jonas Brodin. Lindholm took a tripping penalty but was otherwise quiet in his 15:48.
Bruins teammate Elias Lindholm (9:36), meanwhile, was on the ice for Larkin’s second-period redirect, which came after 31:03 of goalies looking unbeatable.
The second-seeded Americans will face a test in Slovakia, which opened eyes by earning the third seed while lacking an NHL-laden roster. The Slovaks beat Germany, 6-2, in the only rout of the day.
“It’s going to be an extremely hard test,” Quinn Hughes said. “They’ve been rolling. They’re competitive. They’re fast.
“Doesn’t matter how many superstars you have, just the desperation level’s so high. It’s Game 7 every night now.”
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Matt Porter can be reached at matthew.porter@globe.com. Follow him on BlueSky at mattyports.bsky.social.