One day after New York Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette insinuated that NHL referees are keeping forward Matt Rempe on a short leash, the rookie tried the officials and Carolina Hurricanes opponents in Game 2 of the second-round series between both teams.
On Tuesday’s 4-3 double-overtime win by the Rangers, tensions kept rising on a period basis with the first frame bringing some serious physicality and confrontations to the ice of Madison Square Graden.
Rempe’s Game 1 didn’t feature any brutal hit sending him to the box for injuring a player, nor any fight or anything of the like, but the rookie got called for goalie interference on Hurricanes netminder Frederik Andersen.
The rookie and the goalie met again in Game 2 as Rempe teased retaliation by skating dangerously close to (and making contact with) Andersen on his crease, covering him on ice, and prompting all Canes to surround and mob him in a hurry with Hurricanes’ Jack Drury pushing Rempe and making him fall.
Matt Rempe’s Action Came After Hurricanes Hit on Igor Shesterkin
While Rempe didn’t cross the line with his icing of Andersen, the rookie could have easily avoided getting even remotely close to the Canes goaltender as there was enough time since he gloved the puck and Rempe’s arrival at the crease.
Rempe, however, was probably acting in retaliation for Andrei Svechnikov‘s reckless hit on Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin earlier in the first period. The Hurricanes player skated through the goaltender, who had possession of the puck behind his net, making him fall hard to the ice.
The Rangers players on the ice quickly went chasing Svechnikov while a visibly agitated Shesterkin also left his net and skated toward the Hurricanes offender trying to confront him personally.
Once again, officials reacted quickly and defused an unwanted escalation of the situation on the ice that nonetheless turned into a little scrum on the boards.
Peter Laviolette Discussed Matt Rempe’s Special Treatment
Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette was asked about Rempe’s Game 1 penalty and how it was a little bit soft for the officials to call goalie interference on the play by the rookie while skating close to Hurricanes goalie Freddie Andersen on Monday.
“I think [Rempe] is a guy that gets eyes on him for sure,” Laviolette told reporters before Game 2 against the Canes on May 7. “Just the size of him and the way he plays the game.”
Back in Game 1, Rempe was pushed by Jordan Staal into goalie Andersen and collided with him softly, prompting the refs to call an interference penalty on the rookie sending him to the box for two minutes.
Staal and Rempe had a brief exchange of words but the situation didn’t evolve into anything substantial.
Laviolette acknowledged before Game 2 that Rempe is still a rookie with just a few games of experience in the NHL and that the Rangers are doing everything they can to walk him through his professional career by constantly going over replays and to help him learn from past mistakes.
“I think the eyes get drawn to [Rempe],” Laviolette said before Game 2. “I know the game happens quickly as well. We go back, and I’ve said this before, even the hit where it did cross a line, we go back and we teach him about the game. We teach him about hitting, when to fight, when not to fight. We talk to him about systems.
“He’s a young player. He’s done a really good job for us inside of that. So I do think eyes are on him just because of his size a little bit, but I know that the game happens pretty fast and decisions are made quick out there.”
Rempe played a team-lowest 4:03 minutes in Game 2 completing 1 hit across that time. He skated for 5 shifts, also a team-lowest figure. All of Rempe’s teammates skated for a minimum of 11:25 TOI and 21 shifts (both marks belonging to Kaapo Kakko).
The Rangers beat the Hurricanes 4-3 in the second overtime period thanks to a game-winning goal scored by forward Vincent Trocheck in a power-play opportunity 7:24 minutes into that frame.
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