It will be the pre-game ceremony that is remembered.
With the family of Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau at the Saddledome for the first time since the brothers were killed by a suspected drunk driver in August, the Calgary Flames paid tribute to their longtime superstar with a moving video and a ceremonial face-off.
It was beautifully, tastefully done and will live long in the hearts of everybody who was there.
Afterwards, there was a game to play. Not sure there’s a tasteful segue here, but the Flames players had talked before the matchup with the Columbus Blue Jackets about wanting to win this one for Johnny, and they did just that.
Despite the emotions of the night weighing heavily on the group, the Flames put in a gutsy performance to secure a 3-0 win.
“I’m proud of them, that’s a hard one,” said Flames head coach Ryan Huska. “Whether it was the older players in Mikael (Backlund) and Blake (Coleman) and our leaders at the top we talk about a lot, I thought they did an excellent job of finding a way to make sure everybody was ready to play in a situation where it could have been OK for them not to have a great night, people would have understood that.
“That’s one of the bigger reasons I’m proud of them.”
Goals from Rasmus Andersson, Kevin Bahl and Yegor Sharangovich secured the win for the Flames, who snapped a four-game losing skid, while Dan Vladar stopped 16 saves for his second shutout of the season.
Throughout it all, the presence of the Gaudreaus was felt, as Flames fans went out of their way to let the grieving family know that Calgary loves them.
Here’s three takeaways from the game:
- “JOHNNY HOCKEY” CHANTS RING OUT
As the clock wound down on the game, the Saddledome got as loud as it’s been in a long, long time.
“Johnny Hockey! Johnny Hockey! Johnny Hockey!”
The chant echoed through the Dome, from ice-level right up to the nose-bleeds, a fitting end to an emotional night and one more reminder of just how much Gaudreau had meant to Calgarians.
“I got some goosebumps, that was great, it was a great moment,” Backlund said. “It was a very special, emotional night and to finish off with fans cheering his Johnny chant, that was great. It gave me some goosebumps and made you feel how much Johnny meant to the city.”
Every player on both teams wore Gaudreau jerseys during warmups. The moment when his family walked out to centre ice for the ceremonial puck-drop will be remembered by every single person in the rink. He was named the first star of the game.
It was Johnny’s night, and the fans made sure that was clear right until the final buzzer.
“I was honestly just looking around and kind of enjoying the moment when the family is here and they get to hear it and how loved he is and how loved he was here in the city,” Andersson said. “Not a lot of players throughout history who get that.”
- ANDERSSON’S POINT
Andersson opened the scoring in the second period with a picture-perfect blast on the power-play.
They’ve been quite good with the man advantage for a couple weeks now, but that can be unpacked later.
Right after scoring, Andersson pointed to the owner’s box, where Gaudreau’s family was watching the game. It was a simple gesture, but one that spoke volumes.
“There’s so much emotion going through your body and they know I love them and that me and my family will always be here for them,” Andersson said. “It was just very emotional scoring.”
As Huska pointed out afterwards, it was pretty remarkable that Andersson, Backlund, Blake Coleman and Vladar were able to impact the game in the way they did, given that they’d all been teammates and friends with Gaudreau.
Coleman had an assist and Backlund had two, and they were both on the ice for Andersson’s goal. Vladar, of course, got the shutout.
They were probably feeling the weight of the evening more than anybody on the ice, but they fought through and led the team.
- MONAHAN IN EVERYONE’S THOUGHTS
There couldn’t have been a better person to take the ceremonial faceoff for the Blue Jackets than Sean Monahan.
Gaudreau’s best friend and longtime running mate with the Flames, Monahan had signed with the Blue Jackets this past off-season to reunite the pair before tragedy struck.
It’s been an incredibly difficult couple months for Monahan and it would have been hard for him to be front-and-centre while feeling all the emotions that came with the ceremony.
“It meant a lot, I’ve been thinking lots about him,” Backlund said. “For him to move to Columbus to be re-united with Johnny, they were so excited to play together, when I saw them at (Andrew Mangiapane’s) wedding this summer you could tell how excited they were that they were going to play together again.
“For Mony to have to go through that every day, it was just heartbreaking and been thinking a lot about him, so it was great to share that moment with him and show love and support for the family.”