The Calgary Flames had iffy defense on display through Sunday night’s game in Madison Square Garden. But that didn’t matter one bit, as David Rittich made 44 saves in a 4-1 Flames victory over the New York Rangers.

The Flames got out to a slow start, playing on their heels and defending against a deluge of Rangers scoring chances. But they figured out a counterpunch and managed to open the scoring off a Rangers turnover.

The Rangers coughed the puck up to Sean Monahan, who shuffled it to Johnny Gaudreau in the slot. Gaudreau accepted the pass on his backhand, fought off the defenders and spun and shot. His backhander beat Henrik Lundqvist and clanged inside the far post to make it 1-0.

Shots were 12-11 Rangers, chances were 13-7 Rangers.

The Flames got out to another slow start, but a strong shift from the fourth line – leading to another Calgary goal – swung momentum in their favour. Michael Stone and Juuso Valimaki each made strong plays at the blueline to hold the puck in, eventually allowing Dillon Dube to force a turnover along the wall. That shot the puck out to Mark Jankowski and his pass to the crease was redirected by Garnet Hathaway to make it 2-0 Flames.

The Flames padded their lead off another nice forecheck that resulted in a Rangers turnover. Mark Giordano pinched and stole the puck from a Rangers defender, feeding Gaudreau in the slot. He faked out Brady Skjei and went top shelf on Lundqvist to make it 3-0.

Shots were 13-10 Rangers, chances 11-8 Rangers.

With Sam Bennett in the penalty box early in the third period, Mika Zibanejad sniped a wrist shot goal from the faceoff circle to make it 3-1 Rangers. But Hathaway answered back with his second of the game off a weird play. Rasmus Andersson waffled Mats Zuccarello in the neutral zone with a clean hit. The Rangers swarmed Andersson to take umbrage, but Hathaway merely collected the puck and scored on the ensuing rush. It counted, making it 4-1 Flames.

Shots were 20-5 Rangers and chances were 21-4 Rangers.

The Flames took advantage of the chances they got and their forecheck got more effective as the game wore on. But Rittich was the story of this game, as his calm, collected demeanor bled through to the rest of his team. He made the first save every time, along with most second saves, but his team did a capable job of clearing out rebounds and traffic for the most part.

Rittich easily had the best Flames goaltending performance of the season.

Stick-taps go to Gaudreau for a strong multi-point evening. Andersson, Hathaway and Dillon Dube also had good games.

The Flames were on their heels and clinging to a one goal lead when a strong fourth line shift resulted in Hathaway’s first goal and a huge shift in momentum that lasted for the remainder of the second period. By the time the teams headed to their locker rooms for the intermission, the Flames had a three goal lead.

For the “how does this effect the Leafs?” crowd, Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas was in attendance.

Gaudreau hit 300 points with his second period goal, moving past Willi Plett into 20th place in the Flames all-time franchise scoring leaderboard.

This was Andersson’s first-ever game at MSG and it was a special one. His dad played 38 games for the Rangers in 1992-94. He was bumped up to the first pair alongside Giordano midway through the first period and stayed there for the remainder of the game, with TJ Brodie playing with Noah Hanifin.

The Flames (5-3-0) are hopping on a plane and headed to Montreal. They practice tomorrow and face the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night.