The two Calgary Flames players with the most expectations on their shoulders led the team to a 5-3 season-opening victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday evening at the Saddledome, giving Ryan Huska his first win as an NHL head coach.
Goalie Jacob Markstrom stopped 34 of 37 shots while star forward Jonathan Huberdeau had two third-period assists in the win. The organization’s on-ice success this season will depend largely on the two, who are both coming off disappointing campaigns but showed up in a big way in the season opener.
Markstrom kept the Flames in the game early on with several key saves after the team was outshot 15-8 in the opening frame. Huska noted afterwards that Calgary’s defensive-zone coverage remains a work in progress, particularly on the man advantage, where the Jets had 14 shots.
Overall, the Jets had 33 scoring chances to the Flames’ 10, but Markstrom held the fort.
“A few goals you want back, but the guys battled,” Markstrom said. “I thought I was seeing the puck well and moving well.”
“I believe in [Markstrom] as much or more than anybody on our team,” Huska said. “He knows that we have all sorts of trust and faith in him.”
After starting the game on a line with Blake Coleman and Mikael Backlund, Andrew Mangiapane was bumped in the third period to play with Huberdeau and Lindholm.
The initial top line of Huberdeau, Lindholm, and Dillon Dube didn’t generate any shots for at five-on-five. After the switch, the new line outshot the opposition 3-0 at five-on-five and accounted for the game winner, where Mangiapane made a deft, behind-the-back pass to Lindholm. Mangiapane also got an empty-net goal in the dying seconds to seal the victory.
“Those two are really smart players and awesome to play with,” Mangiapane said. “You give them the puck, they know how to finish it.”
“Andrew’s got the ability to create and, when he’s at his best, he can be tenacious,” Huska said. “We need a little more of that.”
Despite the victory, there are areas that Calgary needs to improve in, particularly with the puck.
“…[It’s] the puck play and how many times we gave it back to them [and] how often they came out of scrums or battles with it,” the coach assessed. “That’s one big thing that leads to some of the challenges that we had tonight. Until that gets cleaned up, you can be in the right spots all you want but you’re going to take on water.”
Offensively, Huberdeau got off to a strong start with two assists, but his play away from the puck is still evolving. Huska paused for a handful of seconds when asked about Huberdeau’s overall game on night one, but Huberdeau being out to kill a one-goal lead in the final minute showed what this coaching staff feels he’s capable of in his own end.
“It’s a funny game to evaluate,” Huska said. “It’s nice to get the win. There’s lots of work that has to be done with our whole team in general. Huby’s a great player…I think you’re going to see a lot of great things from him this year.”
Huska acknowledged that the Jets probably deserved to win on Wednesday, but the opposite could have been said on several nights last season when Calgary outshot and outplayed opponents but was done in by a bad goal or crucial mistake and lost so many one-goal games.
The 2023-24 roster is almost identical to 2022-23, but with a new coaching and management staff. Comparisons between the two seasons will happen often, but Markstrom made it known that he and the team have already moved on.
“We’re not looking back. We’ve just gotta keep looking forward,” Markstrom said. “We’re not going to compare seasons or 10 years ago. 15 years ago, I was 18 years old. That doesn’t matter what I did then. We’re looking forward here.”
