Nazem Kadri celebrated in style.
With a well-established reputation for coming up with big goals when the spotlight shines brightest, it’s certainly no surprise Kadri found the back of the net Wednesday as he skated in his 1,000th NHL game.
“Extra special,” Kadri beamed after his Calgary Flames rolled to a 5-1 victory over the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets at the Saddledome. “Just the way the team came out on fire, you could tell that we wanted this one and I’m so appreciative for that, for the guys around me wanting to maximize how special this day was for me and understanding the magnitude of how special it was. It was incredible to watch.”
This unforgettable evening started with a solo lap and a silver-stick ceremony, then wrapped with Kadri saluted as first star.
In between, Mr. 1,000 cashed on a two-on-one rush, taking a feed from linemate Joel Farabee and tucking a shot just inside the post, placed perfectly to ensure that Blue Jackets netminder Jet Greaves wouldn’t be able to get his blocker on it.
The Flames’ star centre pumped his fist, his usual celly. In a suite, his loved ones exchanged hugs and high-fives.
Morgan Frost and Blake Coleman both buried in the opening two minutes of Wednesday’s contest, while Adam Klapka and Mikael Backlund also scored and Dustin Wolf delivered a career-high 42 saves in the home crease, but this night was all about No. 91 and our three takeaways will (mostly) be too …
Calgary Flames centre Nazem Kadri was honoured in a ceremony with his family to celebrate his 1000th game in the NHL at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Wednesday, November 5, 2025. Brent Calver/Postmedia
The ceremony
Kadri cradled the silver stick in his hands, giving it a couple of twirls as he admired the gleam and examined the curve.
He might have been thinking about where he’d display this shiny keepsake at home. If he’s planning to hang it on the wall, he may have been making a mental note that he should stop by a hardware store for heavy-duty anchors.
“That’s probably what I was most excited about is to get a hold of that thing,” Kadri said of the customary gift for any new member of the NHL’s 1,000-game club. “It comes with your pattern and everything, so it’s an exact replica of my stick. It kind of caught me by surprise how heavy it was. I didn’t realize that.
“But that’s something unique and that’s something that is going to be displayed at the Kadri household.”
For Wednesday’s pre-game ceremony, Kadri was joined on the ice by his father Sam, mother Sue, wife Ashley and daughter Naylah, who also read the starting lineup in an adorable locker-room scene and was presented with a silver mini-stick of her own.
As the 35-year-old pivot watched his career highlights — clutch goals, thunderous hits, a Stanley Cup hoist — on the big screen, he was admittedly choking up a little.
“That video tribute, it almost made me cry, to be honest with you,” Kadri said. “It was tough to kind of hold it together. I’m sure I’ll get a little more emotional about it later.
“It was just such a wonderful day. I can’t thank the Flames organization and the fan-base and my teammates enough for such a special day.”
The Calgary Flames celebrate a goal by centre Nazem Kadri in the second period against the Columbus Blue Jackets at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Wednesday, November 5, 2025. Brent Calver/Postmedia
The snipe
Farabee was passing on this two-on-one.
You knew it.
We knew it.
Miles Wood knew it, although the Blue Jackets’ backpedaling forward couldn’t disrupt the dish from Farabee to Kadri.
“I was saying on the bench, I should have kept my No. 91 jersey on from warm-ups and just looked him off,” Farabee quipped in a post-game scrum. “It was one of those, it was a forward playing D so I knew I had a really good chance. And I saw Naz, so it was pretty simple where it was going.”
And pretty simple that it wasn’t coming back.
“I think as soon as I passed, I put my hands up,” Farabee said with a grin.
Now up to 311 notches on his NHL stat-sheet, this is one that Kadri won’t ever forget.
“Just the sequence of events that happened today, it’s tough to really rank what’s most special. I put ’em all up there,” he said. “But scoring a goal in your 1,000th game? It doesn’t get much better than that.”
Of the 13 players to hit quadruple digits while wearing the Flaming C, Kadri is only the second to light the lamp on his milestone night. Martin Gelinas, back in 2003, was first to achieve this feat.
“(Kadri) is usually that way … ” reminded Flames head coach Ryan Huska. “We always talk about him being a gamer and how when the stakes are higher, somehow, in some shape, way or form, he shows up on the scoresheet or with a fight or a hit or whatever the case might be. So I had a feeling he’d be involved somehow.”
Two in a row
In a jubilant locker-room, Kadri’s teammates demanded a speech.
“Let’s get on a run now,” he started.
In what has been a frustrating fall for a team that remains last in the NHL standings, two in a row is a run.
For the first time in the 2025-26 campaign, the Flames have won back-to-back.
They will be shooting for a third straight Friday as they welcome the Chicago Blackhawks to the Saddledome. At 4-9-2, Kadri & Co. still have a lot of work to do to erase the damage done during a dreadful start.
“Pucks are starting to go in so we know we just have to stick with the way we play and playing hard,” said Coleman, who has now scored six on the season. “We thought a lot of those games we weren’t winning early in the year or a couple weeks ago, we deserved better fates in. And we knew eventually it would turn, that’s just the way the game works. We’re starting to get some bounces now and make some plays, and we can’t get away from what makes us a good team.
“It feels good to start getting some wins, and usually that’s a contagious feeling in the room and we can build on it.”