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Kadri heating up as Flames’ playoff hopes flicker

WES GILBERTSON

CALGARY — After a scoring slump that dragged on for more than a month, Nazem Kadri has now buried in back-to-back games.

That’s not the streak that he is focused on extending.

The Calgary Flames’ prized summer signing has skated in the Stanley Cup playoffs in six straight seasons. Until the math says otherwise, he’ll maintain belief that he can push it to seven.

Kadri cashed a rebound for Saturday’s would-be winner as the Saddledome hosts scratched out a 5-3 victory in a matinee matchup with the San Jose Sharks. Thanks to a pair of friendly finishes on the out-of-town scoreboard, the Flames climbed back to ninth in the Western Conference and are once again within four points of the final wildcard spot.

Still hopeful?

“The most hopeful,” insisted Kadri, fitted this past summer for his first championship ring, during a postgame scrum.

“That’s kind of been our motive all year, and I think you certainly have to give us credit for that. Ideally, you want to find yourself to not be in this position this late in the season, but it’s hard to win in months like these leading up to the playoffs and we’re giving ourselves a chance. That’s really all that matters at this point.”

Kadri has been a hot topic in Cowtown over the past week and change, with his dwindling icetime raising questions about whether there’s a rift between the allstar centre and coach Darryl Sutter.

The 32-year-old has shrugged off suggestions of a beef with the Jolly Rancher, insisting everything is “fine,” and shifted the spotlight by snapping out of a 16-game scoring slump with a couple of timely tallies.

During Saturday’s third period, logging a shift with usual fourth-line thumpers Walker Duehr and Milan Lucic, he cashed the goahead goal. Kadri was hanging around the blue paint to shove Duehr’s rebound past Kaapo Kahkonen.

“When you play in the league for a certain amount of time, you understand that, when it’s not going your way, you might have to just take a step back, simplify, get to the net and grind out a couple of ugly ones until you get your mojo back,” Kadri said.

“That’s part of the identity, right? Just have that composure and not quit and continue to move ahead.”

With eight games to go, the Flames will need that no-quit mindset from everybody.

If they’d lost to the lowly Sharks, you probably could have counted ’em out.

To their credit, they rallied immediately to erase a second-period deficit — the visitors were ahead for all of 25 seconds before a wicked one-timer from Duehr — and Jacob Markstrom delivered 13 saves in the final frame to hand the Men in Teal a ninth straight defeat.

The Sharks are sitting rockbottom in the overall standings.

Tyler Toffoli potted a pair for the locals, equalling his career-high with 31 goals, while Mackenzie Weegar was the other lamp-lighter.

“We can’t really worry about what other people are thinking,” Toffoli stressed. “We just have to win every game we can. And every game we win keeps us in it and gives us a chance.”

“Stay where you are, that’s the way you do it,” Sutter echoed.

“We know where we’re at and we know why we are where we’re at, so that’s the bottom line. But you know what? In the room, we’re good. It’s just you can’t let anything outside the room affect you.”

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2023-03-27T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-27T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://saltwire.pressreader.com/article/281724093804172

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