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Elias Pettersson couldn’t keep the smile off his face when he was talking about Quinn Hughes after the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­Canucks’ shootout win over the Calgary Flames.

“That’s my captain,” said Pettersson, sounding like a . “I don’t know if he’s at 100 per cent — probably shouldn’t say that — but I don’t know what he clocked in, almost 30 minutes of playing time today, and it just shows what type of player he is and what a motor or engine he has.”

In his first game back in the lineup since March 1, Hughes hit the ground running — or the ice skating, as it were — and logged a ton of ice time. Because the game went to overtime, Hughes played a whopping 29:48, his fourth highest ice time of the season.

That’s wild, particularly considering the closest he came to a full practice was a single morning skate in a non-contact jersey.

“He’s a real difference for us,” said head coach Rick Tocchet. “He hasn’t had a full practice. Been off that long. I don’t know a lot of guys who can do that: not practice and then go in and play a game and be the impact that he is.”

That’s the key: Hughes had a significant impact in a must-win game that went to the shootout. It could easily be argued that the Canucks would have lost this game without him.

Hughes made some vital defensive plays, drew a penalty, and was a complete game-changer on the power play, where he picked up his one point, an assist. Moreover, he played 3:26 of the five-minute overtime and dominated possession, to the point that the Flames didn’t register a single shot on goal in the extra frame.

The question is, will Hughes suffer another setback that prevents him from having that same or better impact down the stretch as the Canucks push to make the playoffs?

At least for now, Hughes is feeling good and he said he’s looking forward to getting his skating, conditioning, and hands back to where they were when he was at his peak this season.

“I felt better than when I came back last time,” said Hughes. “Haven’t really felt great over the past month, but I’m really thankful for the medical group that we have. I’m sure they’re sick and tired of me.”

Fans have certainly been sick and tired of the Hughesless Canucks. I definitely preferred the Hughesful Canucks when I watched this game.

• As is often the case, I have a bone to pick with Sportsnet, who have cheaped out on their Wednesday Night Hockey national broadcasts. Instead of having a primary play-by-play and colour commentator team, they just use regional announcers, which meant instead of a neutral commentating team, Canucks fans got the Flames’ regular duo of Jon Abbott and Kelly Hrudey. Ultimately, it just felt like a Flames broadcast instead of a flagship national program for the NHL’s broadcast partner in Canada.
   
• I have no bone to pick with Abbott, as play-by-play can be subjective and up to personal taste. Besides, pretty much any play-by-play commentator is going to pale in comparison to John Shorthouse. Hrudey, on the other hand, had a rough night. Far better as an in-studio analyst, Hrudey repeatedly missed key moments in big plays as a colour commentator, and he skewed heavily towards the Flames — not necessarily as a homer but just in that he frequently failed to comment at all on the Canucks’ side of the game.
   
• Hrudey’s biggest miss came midway through the first period, when Elias “Junior” Pettersson lit up Nazem Kadri with big — but clean — open ice hit. Connor Zary retaliated with a brutal cheap shot, leaving his feet to deliver an elbow to the back of Pettersson’s head. Hrudey completely missed it. “In comes Connor Zary to protect his teammate,” was all he said on the matter.

• Hrudey had other opportunities to address the ugly moment later in the broadcast, such as when Pettersson failed to come out for the beginning of the second period and it became clear that he wouldn’t return to the game. But Hrudey didn’t cue up a replay then or explain what happened, doing a disservice to the fans watching the game.
   
• Later in the second period, Hrudey made a laughable statement, saying, “There have been no bad penalties taken by either squad.” Even if you ignore what looked like clear intent to injure — the referees certainly did, only giving Zary a two-minute minor — it was still a dumb and needless penalty for Zary to take in such a crucial game.
   
• Sportsnet analyst Justin Bourne, at least, called out the cheap shot in the intermission, but Abbott and Hrudey completely glossed over the reason why the youngest Pettersson left the game. When the broadcast finally showed a replay of the hit in the third period, all Hrudey said was, “Watch Zary get Elias Pettersson in the first period.” 
   
• Zary didn’t “get” Pettersson. He elbowed him in the back of the head in clear retribution for a clean hit. He should receive a lengthy suspension. Knowing the NHL’s Department of Player Safety, he might get one or two games. Meanwhile, the Canucks just have to hope that Pettersson doesn’t have a serious concussion.
   
• I might be slightly fired up about that whole situation. I just think Hrudey failed to live up to the moment. Moving on. 
   
• The Canucks didn’t get a goal on the Zary penalty but Pius Suter opened the scoring just after the power play ended. It took two shots for Suter the Shooter. Defenceman Joel Hanley got all of the first shot but just a piece of the second, as the puck deflected off his heel and beat Dustin Wolf. Maybe if Hanley had , he would have blocked the second shot too.
   
• Somewhat concerning that Pettersson played two more shifts after taking an elbow to the head. His first shift after the cheap shot, he got caught out of position and Kadri burst up the middle for a breakaway and deked past Kevin Lankinen to tie the game. It was a gorgeous goal but all I can think now is that Junior shouldn’t have been on the ice at all if he had just suffered a concussion.
   
• With just five defencemen available after the first period, the Canucks gave some extra minutes to rookie Victor Mancini, who performed admirably in a career-high 18:32. He played some physical defence, jumped up offensively with confidence, and picked up his first point as a Canuck with an assist on the game-tying goal in the third period. It was a nice showing for the young defenceman. 
   
• Midway through the second period, Quinn Hughes made Ryan Lomberg pay for seemingly targeting one of the injuries from which he was returning. With Lomberg in the box for a crosscheck to his ribs, Hughes took a pass from the elder Elias and cut into the high slot. He fired a hard shot on net and Jake DeBrusk batted it down under Wolf’s glove.
   
• Rasmus Andersson attempted to chirp Hughes after the goal but it wasn’t very effective, as Hughes just sassed him right back. On the bench after, Hughes gave a Joker-esque grin and a laugh, suggesting he’s entering his villain era. Maybe the rest of the NHL should look out.

• On another power play a few minutes later, however, Tocchet sent two defencemen onto the ice, with Filip Hronek joining Hughes. It was an odd choice, especially after a four-forward unit had just scored for them. I’m hoping that it wasn’t intended to try to protect the 2-1 lead because that’s really, really sad. Ironically, the power play unit with two defencemen gave up a 2-on-0 and a shorthanded goal.
   
• Hughes’ dump-in took a deflection and the Flames’ penalty kill took the puck, but the Canucks’ power play was too slow to back off defensively. Hronek chased high in the zone instead of retreating, Kiefer Sherwood was beat up the ice, and Hughes realized far too late that he didn’t have help behind him and didn’t react. Worst of all was Filip Chytil: as the last man back, instead of backing off to defend a 2-on-1, he pinched in the neutral zone, lost an edge, and allowed Kevin Rooney and Jonathan Huberdeau to move in alone on Kevin Lankinen. It was punch-a-hole-in-your-drywall infuriating.
   
• Huberdeau then gave the Flames the 3-2 lead on the power play, firing a hard shot off the post and in. The shot was a blur and the puck got stuck behind the centre support, so the only one who knew it was in was Huberdeau himself. All Canucks fans were thinking was, “How about you Huberdeaun’t?”
   
• Heading into the game, the Canucks had lost 29 straight games when trailing after two periods dating back to last season. Considering they were dealing with fatigue in the second half of back-to-backs, the odds were stacked against them that this would be the night they broke that streak. But a bunch of the players on the Canucks weren’t even born when the Odds , so they’ve never listened to the Odds before; why would they start now? 
   
• The Canucks dominated the third period, outshooting the Flames 17-to-4 as they sought the tying goal but Elias Pettersson didn’t exactly engender confidence that he was going to be the hero of the hour when he seemed to have a chance to split the defence and instead passed the puck. That’s a situation where you really want him to be more selfish.

• It all worked out. A few minutes later, Pettersson patiently held onto a puck in the corner before finding Mancini at the point. Mancini’s shot was tipped by Nils Höglander, forcing Wolf to give up a juicy rebound. Pettersson was the first to the puck and, like water at its highest point on the beach, the game was tied up.
   
• “I just saw a wide-open net and I was just making sure I didn’t miss the net,” said Pettersson. “It was kind of close — I shot it too close to the post from what I like but I’m happy it went in.”
   
• The Canucks had the better chances in overtime, as they carefully controlled possession for most of the five minutes. Pettersson forced a nice glove save by Wolf, then later nearly jammed a rebound off the boards past Wolf’s pad, but it was Brock Boeser who came the closest to scoring the winner, ringing a hard shot off the post with 25 seconds left. Instead of being the hero, Boeser instead ended the game with zero shots on goal.
   
• Pettersson made Wolf look foolish in the shootout, beating him five-hole before Wolf could even react. It was a smart move by Pettersson, as he left open the possibility of a high shot or a deke before catching Wolf off-guard with the quick release along the ice. That gave Pettersson a goal, assist, and shootout goal on his statline.
   
• “Really happy for him,” said Hughes of Pettersson on Sportsnet. “He took a lot of crap this year and we obviously need him at this point in time with 17 games left. He showed up today, brought his A game, and we’re going to continue to need him to do that. Obviously, proud of him. He’s a competitive guy too. You don’t get to the level that he’s gotten to without having that inner jam and desire. It’s been a hard little run for him, but he’s a great player and he’s going to be just fine, and you saw it tonight.”
   
• After a couple of misses Huberdeau tied the game with a similar five-hole shot to Pettersson, though Lankinen nearly got down in time to off the ice. A couple more misses gave Conor Garland the chance to win the game and, , he delivered, snapping a quick shot past Wolf’s glove.

• Garland was fired up after scoring, appearing to yell, “Let’s ****ing go ****ing home.” Maybe he just really misses his dog, Bubba. Or he really hates Calgary.
   
• “Both teams know,” said Pettersson. “We’re going at each other. Now we’re tied in points, they have one game in hand. It’s going to be tight all the way to the last game. Every game matters, every point matters.”