Blue Jackets to play home opener Tuesday with Gaudreau brothers in mind

Johnny Gaudreau's Columbus teammates have been given a few options for how to handle their emotions during the Blue Jackets' home opener.

If you want to cry, cry.

If you want to laugh, laugh.

The only rules — play the game the way "Johnny Hockey" would, and with him in mind.

An emotional night awaits in Columbus on Tuesday, when the Blue Jackets host the Florida Panthers. It will be a night of tributes to Gaudreau, the Blue Jackets' star who would have been entering his third season with the club and 11th NHL season overall, and his brother Matthew Gaudreau. They were killed on Aug. 29 when police said they were struck by a suspected drunken driver while they were riding their bicycles on a rural road in New Jersey on the eve of their sister Katie's wedding.

"It's such an unprecedented thing and something that obviously none of us wanted to go through, and nobody ever wants to go through it," Blue Jackets head coach Dean Evason said Monday as final preparations for the celebration of the Gaudreaus were being made. "But we have to."

The 31-year-old Gaudreau wore jersey No. 13 for the Blue Jackets. Matthew Gaudreau, who was 29 and played five pro seasons in the American Hockey League, East Coast Hockey League and in Sweden, wore jersey No. 21. All 32 NHL teams are wearing decals on their helmets with 13, 21 and the letter G on their helmets through Oct. 24. USA Hockey has a similar tribute for its teams at all levels this year.

On Tuesday, the "13" tributes will be almost everywhere. Both the Blue Jackets and Panthers will take the ice for warmups wearing jerseys bearing the name Gaudreau and jersey number 13; those sweaters will be auctioned and raffled off to benefit the John and Matthew Gaudreau Foundation. There's "13"