Nazem Kadri was as disappointed as anyone.
When he coughed the puck up deep in his own zone in overtime on Saturday night against the Seattle Kraken, it led to the goal that ended the game.
It was an uncharacteristic mistake and not one he intends to make again.
“(Was trying to) create something, that’s what happens,” Kadri said on Monday. “Sometimes you need some courage to make some plays. Obviously didn’t end the way I wanted it to, I was as upset as anyone.
“I probably could have had two or three in that game had it bounced a little bit differently, but we fought. We fought hard and we’ll take the point.”
The turnover may have led to an overtime loss for the Flames, but picking up a point on the road isn’t such a bad thing. They’re still sitting at 4-0-1 on the season and are atop the Pacific Division.
And nobody is going to be too savage about Kadri’s turnover. He’s had a solid start to the season with four points in five games despite playing on a line that’s been shifted around a bit because of injuries to Yegor Sharangovich and Sam Honzek.
On Saturday, he was playing with Matt Coronato for the first time this season and had Andrei Kuzmenko on his left. It was a new look, and they still managed to create their fair share of chances.
Everybody knows what Kadri brings to the team and he doesn’t often make the types of mistakes that led to the overtime goal.
“You want to limit the turnovers, you want to limit those chances against, but they do happen,” said Flames head coach Ryan Huska. “They’re part of the game and it’s how you respond now that’s the most important thing.
“You expect the response out of him and the response out of the team.”
The chance to respond and bounce back from Saturday’s not-particularly-major setback will come fast. The Flames have a huge three-game homestand this week that kicks off with Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins visiting the Saddledome on Tuesday night. Then, it’s the Carolina Hurricanes rolling into town on Thursday and the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday night.
It’s still early, but we might know a lot more about the Flames and whether their hot start is for real by the end of the week.
“Obviously, we’re still on the point streak getting the point in overtime,” Kadri said. “For us, it’s just understanding what’s got us this success, I think we understand how we have to play and games are going to unfold differently every single night.
“You’ve just got to be ready to improvise a little bit and rely on your structure and we certainly have the work ethic in the room.”
Kadri wasn’t happy with the overtime turnover and yes, the Flames would have liked to have left Seattle with two points instead of one.
But a point on the road is hard to earn and nobody was ever expecting the Flames to go undefeated this whole season. They had chances to win late in regulation, too, and there were a lot of things to like about the way they battled through a tough game where opportunities were hard to come by.
If Saturday’s overtime loss was a setback, it was a minor one.
And the Flames are moving on.
“It would be nice to go 82-0, wouldn’t it? It would be really sweet to do that, but unfortunately you’re going to have to fight some adversity,” Kadri said. “There were stretches in that game where we had to just fight back a little bit. I don’t think we gave them a whole lot, they didn’t give us a whole lot and obviously we saw that with the score.”