Clutch Kadri delivering for Flames when it matters most

Morgan Frost knew. So did Adam Klapka.

When the game is on Nazem Kadri’s stick, his Calgary Flames teammates have begun to assume it’ll quickly be game over.

Lately, he’s proving them right.

As Kadri bore down on Seattle Kraken netminder Joey Daccord in overtime on Tuesday night at the Saddledome, Frost and Klapka told teammates on the bench that they’d soon be celebrating. Kadri, who scored a critical third-period goal as well, delivered again to become the first player in franchise history to score overtime winners in consecutive games. 

“Frosty gave me a little pop on the chest [during Kadri’s breakaway], ‘Here goes Showtime,’” Blake Coleman said after the win. “Some guys just have that clutch gene, that ‘it’ gene. They want the puck on their stick in a big moment. They've got that calmness and poise with it to make the play that they need to make.”

Klapka had similar faith in the 34-year-old veteran centre, telling backup goalie Dan Vladar to get ready. 

“As soon as he went by himself [towards] the net, I told Vladdy to just open the doors,” he said. “I was ready to jump on the ice. I knew he was going to score that goal.”

In training camp back in September, Kadri delivered a message to reporters when asked if he wanted to remain a Flame during a season where growing pains were expected: “Let us go play and we’re going to try to rally around each other and surprise some people.”

The club rallied around that impassioned plea from its emotional heartbeat. Six months later, Kadri’s will to win continues to have an impact on the group.

“Down but not out,” he said after his historic night. “That’s been the Flames’ way this year.”

He said he had one thought before he notched his fourth game-winning goal of the season, second on the team to Jonathan Huberdeau's six.

“Finish the game,” Kadri said. “Hoping it’s the game winner…we needed that second point.”

Kadri and the Flames have won four in a row, all without their captain, Mikael Backlund, who remains sidelined with an upper-body injury. Those wins have helped the team remain in the fight for a Western Conference wild-card berth.

Kadri has elevated his game over the past few weeks. Without Backlund, he’s playing over a minute and a half more per night and starting more shifts in the defensive zone. Kadri is also out late in games with the team protecting leads. Since the 4 Nations Face-Off break, he’s tied for fifth in the league with nine goals.

Kadri and Jonathan Huberdeau spent most of the season together until Backlund’s injury. In the six games without the captain and with their two stars driving their own lines, Calgary’s goals per game is 13th in the league – a huge improvement given the team has been near the bottom of the league for most of the season.

“When I say that guys are hungry to win and push for this playoff race, he’s right at the front of it,” Coleman said.

The bigger the moment, the more Kadri brings to the table.

“When there’s more on the line, they typically play their best hockey,” head coach Ryan Huska said, adding that Coleman has that trait as well. “Naz is most definitely one of those guys. He always has his engine revved to nine, but when the games are more [important], he’s pushing to 10. You know you can count on him when the games are on the line.”

The Flames organization will benefit from that swagger, regardless of if they ultimately make the playoffs.

Huska and general manager Craig Conroy have said that they want their young players like rookie goalie Dustin Wolf and forwards Matthew Coronato and Connor Zary to learn how to play in meaningful games. They want Kadri, Coleman, and other veterans to teach them the value of practice, pre-game preparation, and how to approach late-game situations.

“What I would hope rubs off onto especially the younger players is that the bigger the stage, it’s not something to be afraid of,” Huska said. “You kind of run to it. That’s what Naz does. All the time.

“So, if some of that mentality or attitude…rubs off to the people that are beside him, it makes you better. Not just in the short term, but in the long term. Just the competitiveness and belief in himself and the team, I think, drives his teammates as well.”