CALGARY — Shortly after Nazem Kadri upped his stock even higher in Calgary with his second snipe of the first period, he shared a chuckle with Jonathan Huberdeau.
“I don’t remember what I said, but probably ‘nice shot… nice muffin,’” smiled Huberdeau.
“He’s good for a couple muffins too,” was Kadri’s post-game retort.
“Don’t let him fool you.”
Clearly, the new kids are getting comfortable with one another.
With the city.
With winning.
It would have been fair to call Huberdeau’s shot anything you wanted before Tuesday’s game, as he’d only taken five of them as a Flame.
However, he made good on a pre-game promise to shoot more with a second-period goal that marked his first in Calgary.
“You guys can keep talking about it and maybe I’ll score every game,” laughed Huberdeau, whose power-play goal from the top of the circle put the Flames up 3-0 early in the second period of a game in which they were outshooting the visitors 22-8 at that point.
“I got it on top and had a really nice screen in front so I just had to pick that corner and it worked out. I’ve just got to shoot a bit more.”
Although the Flames’ top line of Huberdeau, Elias Lindholm and Tyler Toffoli has yet to score a 5-on-5 goal, the Flames are now officially off to their best start in franchise history.
Depth, and a deadly power play, can do that for a club.
A 4-1 win over Pittsburgh was the club’s fifth win in six outings — a stretch that has seen Kadri pick up points in every single one, the fourth-longest streak to open a Flames career.
For those who assumed the 32-year-old would have a hard time replicating the 87-point season he had in Denver a year ago, his three-point effort Tuesday now has him on pace to shatter that with four goals and nine points so far.
“I don’t think it has got anything to do with fitting in or being new or anything — he can be on anybody’s team, he’s a pretty good player,” snapped Darryl Sutter, who was then asked if anything Kadri does surprises him.
“I think he’s been around long enough, and I’ve been around long enough, that you’re pretty familiar with what kind of competitor he is. He’s a competitor. That doesn’t surprise me.”
If the Flames were to draw up a blueprint for how to win games, Tuesday’s effort had most of the elements:
A solid start that saw the hosts lead 2-0 in a first period in which they outshot the Penguins 20-6; three goals from the newbies including a power play goal and a Kadri strike just one second after killing off a penalty; and stellar netminding from Jacob Markstrom, who didn’t face a shot the first 10 minutes, but stopped all but one of the 21 shots he saw in the second.
“If we play like this a lot of games we’re going to be in a good position,” said Huberdeau, who finished with three shots.
“We did tend to let go in the second, but overall we played a good game.
“Five-on-five, our line, we’ve got to be better again, but we’re winning and at least we’re playing hard and it’s going to work out sometime.”
Kadri and Huberdeau have had plenty to do with the Flames power play operating at 31.8 per cent, moving the puck around seamlessly throughout their early season success.
It set the tone Tuesday with a man advantage that had the Penguins on their heels early and as part of a first-period barrage thrown at Casey DeSmith.
While it was the Flames’ best effort of the season, the coach scoffed at the notion it was their most complete to date, pointing to Pittsburgh’s 21-4 shot advantage in the second.
It says plenty about this team that every game seems to have significant lapses, yet their depth has allowed them to prevail.
“We hold ourselves to a high standard, so the mistakes and stuff stand out a little more than what we do well,” said Kadri, whose opening goal was a beauty finish out front after linemates Dillon Dube and Andrew Mangiapane did yeoman’s work down low to get him the puck.
“We always try to get off to a good start and establish home ice, and we want this to be a hard place to come in and win.”
Sure is, as the Flames are now 4-1 at home where they’ll play their next four, including Saturday night’s Battle of Alberta rematch.
