Zadorov apologizes to Flames fans: 'We're playing like shit right now'

Two days after calling out his team for lacking cohesion, defenseman Nikita Zadorov remains distraught at the state of the Calgary Flames.

Fans booed the club throughout a 3-0 home defeat to the St. Louis Blues on Thursday night, which marked Calgary's fourth loss in a row.

"I just want to apologize to our fans, we're playing like shit right now," Zadorov said, according to The Athletic's Julian McKenzie.

Zadorov also mentioned he wasn't criticizing any specific teammates with his previous incendiary comments but was instead pointing out the team is struggling to gel early in the season.

After yet another disheartening loss, the veteran defenseman wasn't Calgary's only critic.

"I would have booed too if I saw the way we played," said top-line center Elias Lindholm, per Sportsnet's Eric Francis.

"We weren't broken, we just sucked," added head coach Ryan Huska, per McKenzie.

The Blues outshot the Flames 35-27 during the contest and owned 55.26% of scoring chances and 56.43% of expected goals at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Calgary won two of its first four games before hitting its current skid and now sits sixth in the Pacific Division at 2-5-1. Its sputtering offense ranks 27th league-wide with 2.43 goals per game.

The club's next chance to right the ship comes against the Edmonton Oilers - who have also lost four in a row - outdoors at the Heritage Classic on Sunday.

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