CALGARY — As Nazem Kadri raced down the ice on a lengthy overtime breakaway, Dustin Wolf had his stick on his head, admittedly praying to a higher power.
More than 18,000 rose to their feet holding their breath, while Blake Coleman’s teammate nearly knocked the wind out of him.
“Frosty gave me a little pop on the chest, ‘Here goes Showtime,’” chuckled Coleman of Morgan Frost’s new nickname for the Flames’ scoring saviour.
“Some guys just have that clutch 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.
“We had a lot of faith in him. He looked a little gassed, and the Dome ice can be a little tricky at the end of games, but he’s just got that ‘It’ factor.”
He also now has 300 NHL goals, perhaps none more dramatic or impactful in the regular season than the two he potted in a 4-3 overtime triumph over the Seattle Kraken for the team’s fourth-straight comeback win in a row.
His first tied the game 2-2 with six minutes left, and the second made franchise history by ending overtime for the second straight game.
“Down but not out — that’s been the Flames way this year,” said Kadri, who said he had one thought on his mind as he raced in alone following a clutch Wolf save that essentially sprung him free from his own blue line.
“‘Finish the game, finish the game,’ hoping it’s a game winner. The ice was a little chewed up, it started to roll a little bit. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t just a little bit concerned. But was able to finish the move off. We needed that second point.”
Well aware St. Louis continued its heater with an earlier win over Montreal that put them up six in the race for the final wild-card berth, Kadri flashed a series of moves before finishing the deke with a forehand past Joey Daccord. It was his seventh shot of the night.
Cue a Saddledome explosion that reverberated around a city collectively shaking its head over how resilient this bunch is.
And while Wolf is unquestionably the biggest reason this playoff push has been made possible, Kadri’s five goals in the last four games epitomize his leadership and drive to continually drag his team into the fight.
Brandon Montour literally tried to drag Kadri into a different fight with five minutes left in a 2-2 game, rag-dolling the Flames veteran and throwing a few punches following a net-front shoving match. Kadri refused to drop his gloves to try avoiding a penalty, but was given five minutes for fighting anyway, firing him up almost as much as having his necklace ripped off of him.
“I kind of wish I dropped my gloves and gave him a little something,” smiled Kadri, who was further fuelled by the puzzling call.
“But, you know, I’m glad it worked out.”
Less than a minute later, Rasmus Andersson gave the Flames 3-2 lead that was negated when Jordan Eberle banged in a rebound with the extra attacker on and 90 seconds remaining.
Cue Kadri, who needed a whistle to get out of the box in the extra frame. He has spoken often of late about his low-scoring group’s knack for scoring timely goals, and given the do-or-die nature of the Flames’ situation it’s unlikely he’ll ever forget the circumstances surrounding his milestone snipe.
“He scores big goals for us, like even the power-play goal, that’s a huge goal at that time of the game,” said Ryan Huska, who insists Kadri, not his lucky tie, has plenty more to do with his club’s four-straight wins.
“I know he’s going to have an impact on games, because when there’s more on the line he typically plays his best hockey. He always has his engine pinned to nine, but when the games are more, he’s pushing 10. You know you can count on him when the game is on the line.”
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His 28th of the season was his fourth game-winner, keeping the Flames within four points of the Blues with three games in hand.
“I don’t think the challenge is necessarily about St Louis, it’s about the guys here in the room and the effort we want to put on the ice for 60 minutes,” said Wolf, whose club faltered in the second period to trail 2-1, only to surge back with two goals and a 14-6 shot advantage in the third.
“No, we can’t control what goes on (with the Blues). We could obviously hope for (out of town results) to go our way, but at the end of the day, we’ve got to take control of our own destiny, get two points every night, and see where things take us.”
More to the point of late, where Showtime can take them.
