Flames' Andersson: Rangers 'focused on me instead of playing'

Calgary Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson believes he got under the New York Rangers' skin during his club's 2-1 victory on Tuesday night.

"I feel like (they) got a little bit distracted with it," he said of the game's chippiness, per The Athletic's Peter Baugh. "Felt like a lot of their guys focused on me instead of playing. It went well."

Andersson and Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin exchanged chirps during a TV timeout in the second period. The blue-liner and New York forward J.T. Miller also took matching roughing penalties in the stanza.

The Flames outshot the Rangers 10-3 in the middle frame, but Blueshirts forward Mika Zibanejad said his team's woes extended far beyond those 20 minutes.

"It's the whole game, it's not just that second period," he told reporters. "Even the third period, I was disappointed we didn't have a better push than that. It's not good enough."

Rangers star Artemi Panarin, who opened the scoring, felt the defeat was unprecedented when asked where it ranked in a season filled with disappointments.

"I would say (the worst)," he said, per the Rockland/Westchester Journal News' Vincent Z. Mercogliano. "It's hard to remember all of them right now, because we have (had a) bunch of them this year. We just can't play like that when we're fighting for our life."

The Flames improved to 31-25-11 with the win. That temporarily matched the Vancouver Canucks' record and vaulted Calgary into a playoff spot by points percentage. However, Vancouver then defeated the Winnipeg Jets 6-2 to retake the second wild-card position in the Western Conference.

New York dropped to 33-30-6 and fell out of a postseason spot themselves thanks to the Montreal Canadiens' 6-3 victory over the Ottawa Senators earlier in the evening.