CALGARY — It’s been a smooth transition to Calgary for Nazem Kadri.
Kadri stayed in red on Tuesday, extending his NHL point streak to six games with two goals and an assist to lead the Flames to a 4-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
After helping the Colorado Avalanche win the Stanley Cup, Kadri hasn’t missed a beat since signing a seven-year, $49 million contract with Calgary.
“It’s been good, for sure,” said Kadri, who leads the team with nine points (four goals, five assists). “Credit to the guys, they made me feel very welcome, the staff and everyone in the city of Calgary. It’s always nice to get wins.”
His hitting streak is the fourth-longest to start a Flames career. Mel Bridgman (1980-81), holds the record with eight games, while Phil Housley (1994-95) and Sergei Makarov (1989-90) had seven games.
“He’s been playing well,” Jonathan Huberdeau said of his fellow newcomer. “Such a good player, he works hard and it has been working for him. He creates a lot of things on the ice defensively, offensively, and he’s going to continue that as well.”
Huberdeau, making his Flame debut, and Michael Stone also scored for Calgary (5-1-0).
Evgeni Malkin had the lone goal for Pittsburgh (4-2-1), which lost both ends of its back-to-back at Alberta in regulation after starting the season with points in its first five games.
Sidney Crosby, who entered the night with 11 points in six games and was looking for his 900th assist, was held off the scoreboard.
It was all Calgary in the first period as the Flames jumped out to a 2-0 lead and held a 20-2 advantage in shots before the beleaguered Penguins pulled away in the final two minutes.
“They obviously knew we played last night (in Edmonton). They tried to establish that strong forecheck that they have,” Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin said.
Pittsburgh goaltender Casey DeSmith was spectacular in keeping the game scoreless until Calgary’s 15th shot beat him. Andrew Mangiapane’s cross was perfectly redirected by Kadri at 14:11.
Kadri added his second of the game less than four minutes later, firing into the top corner for an unassisted goal.
“A good start, that’s probably what did it for us,” Kadri said. “We came out hot. I would have liked to see a better second period, but for the most part we hung in there, we had a good start and that’s definitely a positive sign.”
Huberdeau made it 3-0 early in the second on the power play, but after that, Pittsburgh tilted the ice in their favor starting with Malkin’s power play goal at 4:32.
The Penguins outscored Calgary 20-4 in the second period, but thanks to stellar work from Jacob Markstrom in net, their deficit grew to three goals on a Stone slapshot at 11:20 that put the 4-1.
Markstrom finished with 32 saves to improve to 4-0-0. DeSmith had 31 saves to fall to 0-1-1.
“Big second period,” Flames coach Darryl Sutter said when asked about his goaltending. “We would lose a goal chance, they arrive with a goal chance. He probably kept it a two-goal game.”
It was a generally quiet night offensively for Pittsburgh, which scored six goals in four of its first six games.
“When you score six goals a night, you get in that ‘we can do it every night’ mode, and we have a team that could do it every night,” Penguins forward Jeff Carter said.
“But I think at the beginning of the year we were scoring six goals because we were playing the right way. We’re checking and creating our chances from our own end, really, and grinding teams out when we get on the offensive end.”
POULIN’S CURRENT DEBUT
With Jason Zucker facing the Oilers and Jake Guentzel (upper body) not ready to return, 21-year-old 2019 first-round pick Sam Poulin made his NHL debut with the Penguins.
Called up from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL) on Sunday, Poulin centered a line with Brock McGinn and Kasperi Kapanen and found himself on the scoreboard a couple of times. It was in the penalty area to cut back when Huberdeau made it 3-0. Not long after that he helped set up Malkin’s power play goal for his first NHL point.
“I thought Sam played well. He brought a lot of energy to us,” head coach Mike Sullivan said. “We’re very encouraged with the way he’s come and how his game is evolving and he’s earned the opportunity to play in this game tonight. I thought he had a strong game.”
QUICK START
The Flames have won five of their first six games for the first time in franchise history. The only other time the team has collected 10 of 12 points to start the season was in 1978-79, when the club was still based in Atlanta. They started that season 4-0-2.
UNTIL THE NEXT
Penguins: They’ll look to bounce back Friday in Vancouver when they continue their five-game road trip against the Canucks.
Flames: Their season-long eight-game homestand continues Saturday when they visit the Edmonton Oilers.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on October 25, 2022.