Flames' Huberdeau benched for third period in win over Predators

For Calgary Flames forward Jonathan Huberdeau, it feels like his time in southern Alberta is going from bad to worse.

After the regression from 115 points with the Florida Panthers in 2021-22 to less than half that in his first season as a Flame, all eyes were on him to have a bounce-back year.

Instead, just 11 games into the season, Huberdeau found himself glued to the bench for the third period as his Flames teammates clawed back from a two-goal deficit in a 4-2 win over the Nashville Predators.

The last time the two-time All-Star was benched for the final frame was in 2019 when the Panthers lost 5-1 to the Pittsburgh Penguins, according to Sportsnet Stats.

Playing just 14 minutes in the entire game and having no shifts in the third, Huberdeau didn't factor on the score sheet at all, failing to register a point or a shot on goal. He did, however, have two giveaways in that time.

"I thought Huby had an off night," Flames head coach Ryan Huska told reporters after the game. "When we went into the third period, we wanted to try to get a little more flow and we went with the guys we felt were going.

"It's not anything anybody wants to go through, ever, but at times it's going to happen. You're not going to have your A+ game every night."

Huberdeau's initial downturn in his first season in Calgary could have been attributed to many different factors — maybe he didn't gel with former coach Darryl Sutter, perhaps he was still reeling from a trade he was not expecting.

But the Flames have moved on from Sutter and Huberdeau has had ample time to settle into Calgary.

The whole team has been struggling, not just Huberdeau — fellow 2022 acquisition Nazem Kadri has just two goals this year — but with Huberdeau's hefty $10.5 million salary, it's not unreasonable to expect more than two goals and six points in 11 games, especially knowing what he's capable of.

"It's not very easy, I want to be at my best," Huberdeau told Sportsnet's Ryan Leslie last week. "At some point, you know, you need to figure it out and hopefully play the best for your team. I still need to figure that out."