This story is part of Peak, The Athletic’s desk covering the mental side of sports. Sign up for Peak’s newsletter here.

In the first minute of Sunday’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes, New Jersey Devils defenseman Luke Hughes redirected a shot by Nikolaj Ehlers into his own net.

Almost instinctively, Hughes raised his gloved hand to his head, stunned. A wave of boos began to sweep through the Prudential Center.

In the second period, Hughes lost the puck in the crease when Canes left winger Taylor Hall tapped it off his stick, and it deflected into the net for another Carolina goal. The crowd erupted in boos this time, and they stuck. Fans continued to boo the 22-year-old every time he touched the puck. The Devils lost 3-1.

As the players headed for the locker room, Devils captain Nico Hischier requested to speak to the media, according to Devils reporter Amanda Stein. He wanted to say something about Hughes.

“You can tell if someone makes a mistake and he’s obviously not feeling great about it,” Hischier told reporters. “As a teammate and also as fans, you have to embrace that he’s obviously not happy with that as well, and booing doesn’t help.

“It’s a game of mistakes. … Us teammates fully stand behind Luke, and he’s a great player.”

I came across Hischier’s interview by accident while checking Instagram but stuck around to watch the full clip. I was curious how an expert might diagnose the situation and Hischier’s reaction, so I reached out to Dr. Brad Kirkman, a professor at North Carolina State, the next day. Most sports fans would probably recognize Hischier’s moment after Sunday’s game as an example of leadership — for Kirkman, it was textbook.

Kirkman has spent decades studying what leaders should do when things go wrong. He boils it down to four components every strong leader should embody when navigating unexpected adversity:

• Team confidence: Does your team collectively believe it can overcome obstacles that get in the way? Does it have confidence in itself, but also in every member of the team?

• Teamwork roadmap: If adversity strikes, does everybody know what they’re supposed to do, and do they know what their other team members are supposed to do in the situation?

• Capacity to improvise: When things go wrong, is the team creative enough, and flexible enough, to improvise and find a solution with what’s in front of it?

• Psychological safety: How safe do members of the team feel to talk openly and honestly about their mistakes, their failures and constructive criticism of other team members?

Kirkman said Hischier’s leadership in that moment was effective for three reasons: He addressed the situation quickly, vocalized his confidence in Hughes to bounce back and balanced his support with a call for Hughes’ improvement. (Hughes also took accountability for his play with reporters after the game: “I made a couple of mistakes tonight and I got to be better.”)