Flames score in bunches to get past Blue Jackets

CALGARY -- Playing in his 1,000th NHL game, Nazem Kadri had a goal to help the Calgary Flames defeat the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-1 at Scotiabank Saddledome on Wednesday.

Morgan Frost, Blake Coleman, Adam Klapka and Mikael Backlund also scored for the Flames (4-9-2), who won two straight games for the first time this season. Dustin Wolf made 42 saves, including 22 in the third period.

“It was incredible,” said Kadri of helping the Flames win following a pregame ceremony to commemorate his milestone. “I’m not going to lie, I was a little anxious to drop the puck and just start the game. I just tried to take it with a grain of salt and enjoy the day as much as possible. Thankfully, everything went according to plan and it was just such a wonderful day, and I can’t thank the Flames organization and the fan base and my teammates enough for such a special day.”

Calgary coach Ryan Huska wasn’t surprised to see Kadri play a key role in the game to help the Flames win their second straight game on home ice.

“We always talk about him being a gamer and when the stakes are high, somehow, some way, shape or form, he shows up on a scoresheet or with a fight or a hit or whatever the case may be, so you had a feeling that he’d be involved somehow,” Huska said.

Kirill Marchenko scored for the Blue Jackets (7-6-0), who have lost two in a row after winning their previous four games. Jet Greaves made 21 saves.

“Their goalie played well,” Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski said. “It’s definitely tough, but we’ll move on. Tonight, it just didn’t bounce our way. I feel like we have to start better. Spotting a team two goals is always tough to come back from.”

The Flames scored twice in a 36-second span in the first two minutes of the game to take a 2-0 lead.


Frost put Calgary up 1-0 just 56 seconds into the game when he tipped Jonathan Huberdeau’s point shot past Greaves.

Coleman scored his team-leading sixth goal at 1:32 to give the Flames a 2-0 lead. He took a pass from Joel Hanley and scored on a wrist shot from the top of the left circle through traffic.

“It was a great start,” Coleman said. “Obviously getting the early lead was nice. It wasn’t a super high-energy game necessarily, but I thought ‘Wolfy’ made saves at key times and guys made plays at key times and then we just clamped down in the third and got out with a win.”

Marchenko cut Calgary’s lead to 2-1 at 6:57 with a short-handed breakaway goal. Marchenko took a pass from Boone Jenner and slipped a shot through Wolf’s pads.

Kadri put the Flames up 3-1 at 7:47 of the second period. Skating into the Columbus zone on a 2-on-1, he took a pass from Joel Farabee and lifted a shot over the right pad of Greaves.

“Joel’s a very smart player, so if Joel would have thought the shot was the best option, he would have taken that, but it was a beautiful play, a nice pass,” Huska said. “There was a little bit of patience on Naz’s part to wait a little bit of time until he had the room up top. It was a nice goal.”

Klapka scored 37 seconds later at 8:24 to extend Calgary’s lead to 4-1. On another 2-on-1, Klapka scored on a snap shot from the left circle that beat Greaves to the far side. Defenseman Yan Kuznetsov had an assist on the goal for his first NHL point in his second game.

Backlund scored into an empty net at 19:11 for the 5-1 final.

“Their goaltender was hot,” Columbus coach Dean Evason said. “We had tons of shots. We didn't screen like we'd like to in front of a not-so-big guy, which we've talked about. We didn't do the right things in tonight’s hockey game to give ourselves a chance to win.”

NOTES: Kadri became the second Flames player to score while skating in his 1,000th career game, following Martin Gelinas, who accomplished the feat on Dec. 9, 2003. … Kadri is the 41st active skater in the league to reach the 1,000-game marker and the 407th in NHL history. He is the 13th player to appear in his 1,000th career regular-season game in a Flames uniform. … The Flames scored twice in the opening 1:32, marking the 10th-fastest two goals to start a game in franchise history. The last time Calgary scored two faster game-opening goals was on Feb. 18, 2023 (0:46 against the New York Rangers). ... Marchenko has a six-game point streak (one goal, five assists). ... Huberdeau extended his point streak to six games (three goals, four assists).