\u201cI felt like I was playing great hockey at the time and wasn\u2019t able to be there,\u201d Hughes said. \u201cIt sucks, but you\u2019re moving on. I\u2019m here this time. I\u2019m just really enjoying it.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Hughes showed what kind of offensive weapon the U.S. was missing and how much this year\u2019s gold-medal game could be different against Canada if the U.S. can get past Slovakia and Canada gets past Finland. This was a U.S. team that lost 2-1 to Sweden in the final round-robin game of last year\u2019s tournament and ultimately in overtime against Canada in the 4 Nations.<\/p>\n
Hughes can bring the magic the Americans lacked offensively.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe guy always shows up at the big moment,\u201d Brady Tkachuk said. \u201cHe stepped up massive. We missed him bad in the 4 Nations and it\u2019s just the boost he brings as a person, as a player, and the leadership that he brings that gives us a lot of confidence in this tournament. It takes a truly special player to show up in those moments and that\u2019s Quinn.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hughes became the first defenseman to score an overtime goal in a knockout game at an Olympics with NHL players. He now has a goal and five assists in four games in the Olympics with only two defensemen posting more points in a single Olympics with NHL players (Erik Karlsson, eight points in 2014 for Sweden) and Brian Rafalski (eight points in 2010 with the United States.<\/p>\n
This is the same guy that has single-handedly turned the Wild into an offensive juggernaut since his mid-December arrival. They have the second-most points in the NHL and he has 31 assists and 34 points in just 26 games.<\/p>\n
And when that puck sailed past Jacob Markstrom, Hughes said he felt \u201cjust relief.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cReally enjoying wearing the crest and playing with the superstars that we have on our team. Getting to know these guys,\u201d he said. \u201cThe village. All of it. You just want to extend it as long as you can.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was the exact shot Hughes wanted to get off, and he put it exactly where he wanted it.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2262376320-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Quinn Hughes and Matt Boldy celebrate Hughes\u2019 overtime goal in Wednesday night\u2019s quarterfinal game. (Gregory Shamus \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re definitely a better team with him. I mean, there\u2019s no question about that,\u201d Matthew Tkachuk said. \u201cHe\u2019s playing big minutes. He\u2019s a threat in the offensive zone. Every time, defensively, he\u2019s able to skate pucks and be kind of like that one-man breakout. Him and Charlie (McAvoy) have formed an unbelievable pair for us. Charlie, I thought also was incredible tonight. That was one of those games where it\u2019s 40 of some of the best players in the world fighting at both ends of the ice. Not a lot of room both sides, not a lot of heavy chances on either side. You put two really good teams together, and you think that it\u2019s gonna be this high flying offense, but it\u2019s actually quite the opposite.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it took one guy to make a play at the end, and that was Quinn.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brady Tkachuk played and lived with Hughes for two years at the U.S. National Team Development Program, and he said that\u2019s exactly the player he remembered playing with.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen that move before. I\u2019ve seen that play before. What a player,\u201d Tkachuk said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a blast living in the village with him. We got a good thing going the night before a game. We\u2019re usually just chopping it up and hanging out, just chatting. So glad that\u2019s going to continue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dylan Larkin, who scored the lone goal in regulation for the Americans, skates with Hughes in the summertime. He says he has seen Hughes set that play up thousands of times.<\/p>\n
\u201cSets the feet. You could tell he was setting up the triangle,\u201d Larkin said. \u201cI don\u2019t know who he shot it through, but the pull and unbelievable moment for our country and for USA Hockey. For him to do it, it gives me chills. Unbelievable performance out of him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Larkin, who made a tremendous play in overtime picking Filip Forsberg\u2019s pocket, says that OT was the most nervous he has ever been in a hockey game. Just because anything can happen \u2014 a turnover, a bad bounce, a fall \u2014 to knock the Americans out.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I calmed down a lot when I saw Quinnie get it for the first time,\u201d Larkin said. \u201cWas like, we got that guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Added McAvoy: \u201cI think you saw in overtime we got some really elite high-end skill from a lot of our guys. So you rolled them over the boards, and any combination of guys is gonna get great looks. And tonight it was Quinnie. What a play by him.\u201d<\/p>\n
And what relief from Guerin, who built a team he truly believes can deliver the United States its first men\u2019s hockey gold medal in 46 years.<\/p>\n
So, of course, it was the star he brought to Minnesota that kept the United States alive for at least one more game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILAN \u2013 Bill Guerin played in three Olympics, so he says the only thing that stinks about being…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462755,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5128],"tags":[894,5,54125,38,4,2602,893,27,5313],"class_list":{"0":"post-462754","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-vancouver-canucks","8":"tag-canucks","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-mens-olympic-ice-hockey","11":"tag-minnesota-wild","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-olympics","14":"tag-vancouver","15":"tag-vancouver-canucks","16":"tag-vancouvercanucks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116094606881452096","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462754","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=462754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}