Flames' Huberdeau on being benched: 'You've got to look in the mirror'

Calgary Flames star Jonathan Huberdeau understands what he has to do to avoid being benched again.

Huberdeau addressed his third-period benching in Tuesday's comeback win over the Nashville Predators when meeting with reporters on Wednesday.

“It wasn’t easy, I’m not going to lie," Huberdeau said. "There’s no pointing fingers. You’ve got to look in the mirror, I gotta be a better player. I know I’ve got it in me, I still believe in myself. I just gotta show it on the ice."

After opening the season with four points in his first four games, the 30-year-old winger has since had two assists in eight games.

In that stretch, he has just seven shots and has gone minus-12, with Tuesday’s 4-2 win the only one in which he didn’t finish as a minus.

In 14:24 of ice time in the first two periods, Huberdeau had no shots on goal, two giveaways and one missed shot on the top line.

He's convinced he still has the right work ethic, he just needs to gain a bit of confidence back.

"I think the work ethic is there," Huberdeau said. "It's more the plays, you do them at the wrong time... It's just to create more deception in my game, that's where I've always been good. But when the confidence is not there, you try to make plays but it's not at the right time.

And at the end of the day, Huberdeau knows one period isn't going to define his career.

"I sat on the bench, you know it's 20 minutes in my career," Huberdeau said Wednesday. "I just got to move on and we got to win, that's all that matters. And it's on me, to you know, do better."

Huberdeau signed an eight-year, $84-million deal with the Flames last summer after he was acquired in a blockbuster trade with the Florida Panthers.

“I thought Huby had an off night and when we went into the third period we wanted to try to get a little bit more flow and we went with the guys we felt were going, and that’s pretty much all it came down to,” head coach Ryan Huska said Tuesday of the move.

What does his coach think Huberdeau needs to do to fix his slump? "Eyebrows down and get to work," Huska said Wednesday. He also added that he believes there is added pressure on Huberdeau because of how skilled he is when he is at the top of his game.

Huberdeau, 30, had 15 goals and 40 assists for 55 points in 79 games in his first year with the Flames last season. The previous year for Florida, he had 115 points (30 goals, 85 assists) in 80 games.

The Flames begin a three-game trip through Ontario and Quebec on Friday against the Toronto Maple Leafs.