$84,000,000 Calgary Flames center doesn't mince his words about team's penalty kill after 6-2 loss to Penguins

The Calgary Flames lost 6-2 to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night, extending their struggles this season. Jonathan Huberdeau, signed to an eight-year, $84 million contract in Aug. 2022, expressed frustration with the team’s penalty kill. In the post-game press conference, he addressed the Flames’ inability to stop Pittsburgh’s power play, which scored three goals.

“Yeah, we're just an easy team to play against,” Huberdeau said. “We're taking (too many) penalties, the PK means to get better too. Even though we're going to take penalties, we have to be able to kill them.”

Calgary has allowed multiple power-play goals in an NHL-high six games this season. Huberdeau emphasized that the penalty kill's struggles involve the same core players who usually perform well.

"There's no excuse to get scored in the last 10 seconds or so.... We've got to change something (about PK). ... it's usually the same guys that play PK... The power play wasn't going too well early," he added.

Despite third-period goals from Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri, the Flames couldn’t overcome Pittsburgh’s dominance. The loss marked Calgary’s fourth straight defeat, matching their longest losing streak of the season.

Pittsburgh’s power-play success exposed Calgary’s penalty kill issues. Michael Bunting, Kris Letang, and Philip Tomasino all scored with the man advantage. The Penguins secured their first three-game winning streak this season. The Calgary Flames are set to face the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday.

Calgary Flames had a similar story against the Blue Jackets

The Calgary Flames lost similarly to the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Friday. This win helped the Blue Jackets extend their point streak to five games. Flames coach Ryan Huska called his team lazy for their performance.

“I thought we were a lazier group tonight and not overly pleased with our game,” Huska said per NHL.com. “We didn’t have a lot of guys at their best today.”

Adam Fantilli scored the first goal at 11:56 of the first period, ending a 13-game drought. Kent Johnson added another at 16:42 with a 2-on-1 play, making it 2-0.

Zach Werenski scored early in the second period to extend Columbus’ lead to 3-0. Blake Coleman responded for Calgary at 14:59, scoring on a rebound to make it 3-1.

Fantilli got his second goal at 4:46 of the third period, finishing a pass from Kirill Marchenko. Nazem Kadri narrowed the score to 4-2 with a power-play goal at 11:00.

Marchenko secured the 5-2 win with an empty-net goal at 18:20. The Blue Jackets showed strong teamwork, while the Flames struggled for consistency.