{"id":391528,"date":"2026-01-05T08:19:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T08:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/391528\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T08:19:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T08:19:11","slug":"devils-fans-turn-on-luke-hughes-mid-game-amid-tough-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/391528\/","title":{"rendered":"Devils Fans Turn on Luke Hughes Mid-Game Amid Tough Performance"},"content":{"rendered":"

You\u2019d be hard-pressed to find another example of fans turning on their own player as New Jersey Devils<\/a> fans did on Sunday night at the Prudential Center hosting their division rival, the Carolina Hurricanes.<\/p>\n

On Carolina\u2019s first shot of the game, Jake Allen left a rebound created by Nikolaj Ehlers at the top of his crease. Luke Hughes<\/a>, playing the net-front swiped at the loose puck, and accidentally pushed the rubber over his own goal line to give the Hurricanes a 1\u20130 lead 50 seconds into the game.<\/p>\n

Immediately, you could see the look of discouragement on Luke\u2019s face.<\/p>\n

The boo birds didn\u2019t arrive then, however. These things happen from time to time. Luke isn\u2019t the first player to score an own goal, and he won\u2019t be the last.<\/p>\n

However, to do it twice in the same game? Now, that\u2019s something many of us watching the game probably have never seen before.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s what happened. The Devils struggled all night against the Hurricanes forecheck, Luke included. And when the 22-year-old defenseman attempted to skate the puck away from danger, he moved it through his own crease. Taylor Hall\u2014applying heavy pressure<\/a>\u2014poked the puck off Luke\u2019s stick and by Allen yet again, giving the Hurricanes another lead, 2-1.<\/p>\n

What came next was even less expected than two own goals by a player.<\/p>\n

Devils fans quickly turned on Luke, booing him every time he touched the puck in the second period.<\/p>\n

Sheldon Keefe<\/a> opted to keep Luke on the ice for his very next shift, and for his next 10 touches, Devils fans booed him loudly.<\/p>\n

The Devils signed Luke to a seven-year extension that carries a $9 million average annual value this summer. The contract negotiations forced Luke to miss all training camp, and he made it to Game One of the regular season by the skin of his teeth.<\/p>\n

Amid injuries throughout this season, Luke has been asked to play in a larger role than the Devils anticipated to start the season.<\/p>\n

In 41 games this season, Luke\u2019s scored four goals and 21 points.<\/p>\n

Now, back at near full health, he\u2019s on second-pair duties with Brett Pesce<\/a>.<\/p>\n

*This is a running story that will continue to be updated as it develops.<\/p>\n

\t\t\"avatar\"<\/p>\n

\t\tJames is the New Jersey Devils beat reporter for New Jersey Hockey Now on Sportsnaut and the PHWAs New … More about James Nichols<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You\u2019d be hard-pressed to find another example of fans turning on their own player as New Jersey Devils…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":391529,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5109],"tags":[29,201,3723,5,1769,576,151,5185,5184,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-391528","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-jersey-devils","8":"tag-carolina-hurricanes","9":"tag-devils","10":"tag-devils-news","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-luke-hughes","13":"tag-new-jersey","14":"tag-new-jersey-devils","15":"tag-newjersey","16":"tag-newjerseydevils","17":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115841517127414005","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=391528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/391529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}