You love him like a dear brother if he’s on your team, hate his guts if he’s not.

That’s Naz, baby.

“I’m a competitor. I want to win. That’s it,” Avalanche polarizer Nazem Kadri said late Saturday night after a 5-2 win in Game 3 at Enterprise Center in St. Louis. 

The Avs are up 2-1 in the series, and they have public enemy No. 1 to thank for it. Score the game-changing goal? Check. Help take out the red-hot opposing goalie? Check.

No Avalanche player since Claude Lemieux has ticked off opponents and opposing fans as thoroughly as Kadri. If you’re making a list of sports figures with a worse reputation in St. Louis than Avs (and Rams) owner Stan Kroenke, Kadri must rank in the top five. As Kadri celebrated his go-ahead goal, a woman in a Blues sweater on the glass mouthed “(expletive) you!” as clear as day. That’s Naz, baby.

Love him if you’re an Avs fan, swear his name if you’re not. Hey, Kadri got his reputation the old-fashioned way. He earned it. Twice he’s been suspended during the playoffs, including an eight-gamer last year that seriously hurt his team during a series loss to the Golden Knights.

The Avs missed Kadri dearly. Now we’re seeing why. Winning 16 Stanley Cup playoff games demands a skater or three who will live on the edge, and Kadri sips an iced tea on the edge.

Is another suspension coming? Because it wouldn’t be a Naz game without controversy. In the first period Kadri and Blues defenseman Calle Rosen skated into goalie Jordan Binnington, who was forced to leave the game due to injury. No one’s more important to the Blues than Binnington.

Here was Kadri’s explanation: “I just (saw) a loose puck, really. Just tried to poke it with my stick and their defenseman kind of collided with me and pushed me into (him). Had that not been the case I don’t think I would have hit him at all.”

St. Louis will make a “Safest American Cities” list before it wins this series without Binnington.

With “Binner” in the training room, the Avs needed only 4 minutes, 12 seconds, to score. They scored three straight goals. They retook control of the series after stinking up Ball Arena in Game 2. The Avs did all that because of Kadri, who got booed every time he touched the puck. Goal, controversy. Goal, controversy. That’s Kadri, all summed up in one Game 3.

Ask me, and Kadri did not slow down in front of Binnington, but he did not break the rules. Rosen was right there with him, crashing into the goalie, and there should be no further recourse. Ask NHL Player Safety, they might see it different. While there was no penalty on the play, when it comes to NHL Player Safety, “past history may come into consideration when determining future Supplemental Discipline,” according to an explanation on NHL.com.

“Look at Kadri’s reputation. That’s all I have to say,” Blues coach Craig Berube told reporters. 

Kadri has hockey priors.

“Reputation doesn’t mean anything,” said Avs coach Jared Bednar, who believed Kadri did nothing wrong. “It’s either a legal play or not.”

Kadri doesn’t deserve punishment for the play, but here’s a hunch St. Louis lobbies for it. The Blues know better than most Kadri’s history and his legit importance to the Avalanche.

Kadri has a whole book of history when it comes to these kinds of things. Shoot, he has history with this Blues team. It was an illegal hit on Blues defenseman Justin Faulk that led to Kadri’s eight-game suspension last season and, as it played out, the end of the Avs’ season.

Losing Binnington was a real kick in the you-know-what for the Blues, who will be swearing Kadri’s name into the summer if the Avs finish off the series. Binnington had made a ridiculous glove save of a Mikko Rantanen deflection that suggested the goalie was still red-hot.

It must be noted the Blues sent Avs defenseman Sam Girard to the hospital with a broken sternum, according to Bednar. Girard’s out-out.

“I thought it was a legal check to be honest with you,” Bednar said.

I still believe this series is going the full seven games — unless Binnington’s done. If the Blues continue with Ville Husso, the Avs will “look a little deeper into the strengths and weaknesses of his game,” said Avs forward Logan O’Connor, the former DU Pioneer, who scored his first career playoff goal and should be a mainstay in the lineup for the rest of these playoffs.

Kadri had a goal and an assist. He’s in the midst of a career season, with highs in points (87) and assists (59) during the regular season. He’s also buried deep under the skin of the Blues, again.

“For me it doesn’t matter what building I’m going into it I’m going to try to push the game the same way,” Kadri said.

That’s Naz, baby. Love him or hate him, you want him on your side. That goes for the Blues, too.