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Five days for the holidays.

A rare occurrence in the everyday league that is the NHL.

But Nazem Kadri and the Flames are happy to have had an extended sojourn, even if - in hindsight - those five days felt like five hours.

“I haven’t seen a break like that in a while, it was nice to just recharge the battery,” Kadri said with a grin after he and his Calgary teammates returned to practice Friday at the Scotiabank Saddledome. “Spent some time with the family, it was much-needed, for sure.”

With 34 games under their belts, it’s safe to way the Flames have outdone the national media’s pre-season prognostications.

The team sits five games over the .500 mark as the ‘unofficial’ second half of the season gets underway this weekend; Calgary hits the road for a quick back-to-back beginning Saturday night in San Jose.

Flames head coach Ryan Huska has alluded to certain marker points over the course of the campaign, where the intensity cranks up a notch.

This is one of them.

Along with other well-defined marker points like the start of the regular season, and the post trade-deadline stretch run, it’s this time of year where the pace - and the intensity - picks up by a beat or two.

But for the veteran Kadri, that’s all to be expected.

“I think it’s always around that New Year time,” he said. “Teams are 35, 40 games into the season, playoff picture’s kind of starting to form.

“I think those points, obviously down the stretch, are huge, of course it intensifies, but that’s kind of as expected, nothing out of the norm.”

And with his Flames right in the thick of things, Kadri is eager to get that second half underway.

The weekend includes a first look at highly-touted Sharks youngster Macklin Celebrini Saturday, and a date with the Vegas Golden Knights Sunday evening.

Two perfect opponents to start things back up as they ended them six days ago against Chicago - on a winning note.

“I think we’ve really liked some of the things we were doing before the break, so it’s just a matter of continuing to do those,” said Kadri. "In an ideal world, it’d be nice to get four points in 24 hours, and keep climbing.

“They’re going to be tough road games, we’re going to have to prepare.”

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