Calgary Flames take home-opener, honour Johnny Gaudreau in pre-game

Jonathan Huberdeau did mental and physical work in the off-season in an effort to make his third season as a Calgary Flame his best one yet.

The 31-year-old got off to a strong start with two goals and two assists in Saturday's 6-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers in Calgary's home-opener.

Saturday's pre-game saw a video montage of Johnny Gaudreau's electrifying moments during his eight years as a Flame. It drew a standing ovation and chants of "John-ny" at the Saddledome.

Gaudreau, who went on to play for the Columbus Blue Jackets, and his brother Matthew were cycling on Aug. 29 when they were struck and killed by a vehicle.

The Flames held a candlelight vigil five days later at the Saddledome, where people left flowers and team memorabilia in tribute to Gaudreau.

NHL players are wearing helmet decals with the brothers' numbers 13 and 21 this season, and Goaltender Dustin Wolf has taken that a step further.

His mask's backplate bears an image of Gaudreau in Flames colours wearing his No. 13 and saluting the crowd.

"Everyone knows it's just awful. You know, in the summer after it happened, I was able to go out to the memorial for a bit, kind of share my piece," Wolf said. "I only knew him very little, was only around him very little, but being an American … thought it was really important to honour him and his family and his kids."

Huberdeau's four-point outing followed his goal in Calgary's season-opening 6-5 overtime road win over the Vancouver Canucks, for a total of five points in his first two games of 2024-25.

Traded to the Flames in the summer of 2022 and signed then to an eight-year, US$84-million contract, Huberdeau famously said after his first season in Calgary "I completely lost my swagger."

The left-winger totalled 107 points over his first two seasons in Calgary after a single-season 115 with the Florida Panthers before his trade to Calgary.

Huberdeau says he hit the gym hard and sought guidance from psychologists to arrive at September's training camp confident and optimistic.

"That's the best I've felt the past two years," Huberdeau said. "It's early, but I was feeling good to come into training camp and worked really hard this summer to be able to be at my best.

"Working mentally with psychologists, stuff like that, to kind of get my confidence back, that's what I did throughout the summer. Feeling good physically too is important. There's no excuses out there."