Flames brush off Klingberg's threat about Andersson: 'Whatever'
Don't count the Calgary Flames among those who are worried about John Klingberg's not-so-veiled threat toward Rasmus Andersson following a testy Game 1.
Klingberg said the Dallas Stars will "go after" Andersson following the players' fight Tuesday.
"Whatever," Flames head coach Darryl Sutter said Wednesday regarding Klingberg's comments, according to TSN. "I don't think those guys are gonna be fighting each other again this series."
Sutter continued: "It's (the) playoffs. Guys get hit. That's the way it works. Guys that don't get hit usually lose."
A line brawl broke out between the teams in the first period of the series-opening tilt after Flames pest Matthew Tkachuk bodied Klingberg behind the Stars' net. In the ensuing chaos, Klingberg scrapped with Andersson.
"I feel like (Andersson is) the one guy there in the scrum, he doesn't have a guy," Klingberg said following the Stars' 1-0 defeat. "I'm standing there with (Blake) Coleman, and he's standing and shaking his gloves to me like he wants to go against me. ... I'm dropping my gloves and I want to go, but he's just standing there for two seconds, and then all of a sudden he drops the gloves.
"He's acting a little tougher than he is. We're going to go after him."
However, Tkachuk isn't overly concerned about the 6-foot-1, 214-pound Andersson moving forward in the series.
"Well, first of all, I don't even really know what that means, going after somebody," Tkachuk said. "But I think we've got enough guys that can handle ourselves outside of Ras, who can handle himself quite well."
Andersson is a key player on the Flames' blue line. He led all Calgary skaters with 22:40 of ice time per contest in the regular season. Andersson only played 8:33 in Game 1 before receiving a game misconduct for the fight.
"I thought what (Andersson) did last night was great. We're gonna need more of that energy going forward," Tkachuk said. "He's done a great job all year, he's gonna continue it, and we need it. Definitely excited to have him back for, hopefully, a full 60 tomorrow."
Puck drops on Game 2 at 10 p.m. ET on Thursday.