Patrick Chan celebrates at the end of his free program en route to his second straight Canadian figure-skating title Sunday in Saskatoon. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)

Despite a minor glitch during his long program, Patrick Chan easily skated away with his second straight Canadian figure-skating championship Sunday in Saskatoon.

The Toronto skater recovered from a stumble early in his routine to win the national title with a season-best score of 254.82. Chan also posted his best long program of the season, earning 165.93 points.

Chan's score was the third-highest ever under the revamped scoring system implemented in 2003, behind only Japan's Daisuke Takahashi (264.41)and Olympic champion Evgeni Plushenko of Russia (258.33).

"I'm speechless. I haven't even had time to think about," Chan said. "I'm going to take that and it will really help me training, to think, wow, I really am in the top three highest marks, even with one mistake."

Calgary's Vaughn Chipeur finished second after posting a total score of 206.30, and Jeremy Ten of Vancouver placed third at 204.03.

All three skaters will now take part in the world championships scheduled for Los Angeles in March.

Performing to music by Sergei Rachmaninoff, Chan opened his program with a terrific triple Axel, a jump he's struggled through over the last month. The 18-year-old then stumbled on an attempted triple-triple combination, the only mistake he would make on the day.

He composed himself by landing a second triple Axel before finishing with some breathtaking footwork to thrill the Saskatoon crowd.

"The second triple Axel for sure," Chan said of the highlight of his performance. "I really focused and thought about it [Saturday] night before going to bed. I couldn't go to bed because I kept thinking about it, and I think I've come over that hump, hopefully."

Chan never came close to losing his grip on the top spot. After a mesmerizing short program on Friday, Chan headed into the men's free skate with a commanding 17-point lead.

"A lot of people said, 'Good luck, but you don't need it,' before my long program," Chan said. "Don't say that, because I still want to have the mindset where I've got American, Japanese, Russians going after me, competing after me. So basically I had that mindset, and it helped. It really helped.

"That's the approach I had — more of an attack instead of defensive."

Chan stunned the Canadian skating community last year by upsetting Jeffrey Buttle during the national championships in Vancouver. Buttle went on the win the world title two months later, but has since retired.

"If I perform two good programs like that I'm pretty sure I'll get the same result as Jeff did at last year's worlds," Chan said.

"Why not? Sure, the marks here are inflated, but it's only inflated by maximum five to 10 points, and even with that minus-10 points, I think I could still really be on the top of the podium. I'm not going to predict a gold, I'm going to predict a medal. It doesn't matter which colour.

"OK, it matters… I guess so," he added, laughing.

Chan began this season by winning two straight Grand Prix events, including the Skate Canada event in October.

However, the young Canadian endured a miserable time at the Grand Prix final in Goyang, South Korea, last month, finishing fifth in a six-skater field.

Chan said the crowd at the Credit Union Centre played a role in his return to form.

"It was like they were my subconscious because they knew what I was going through," he said. "Every time I landed the Axel, the cheer was louder, especially after that second Axel, I knew everyone was hoping for me to land it because I've been working on it all season."

With files from the Canadian Press