He jumped into the Mikael Backlund’s arms after hushing the home crowd at Canadian Tire Centre, elated about his overtime-winning snipe and all of a sudden unencumbered by the weight of a lengthy scoring slump.
The next morning, Calgary Flames go-to guy Johnny Gaudreau jumped on a flight to Los Angeles for the 2017 NHL All-Star Game.
Both will boost his confidence.
Thursday’s three-on-three tally — the final touch on a two-on-zip rush with Backlund and the last scoresheet line in Calgary’s 3-2 OT triumph against the Ottawa Senators — was Gaudreau’s first strike of any sort since Jan.