New York Rangers’ Matt Rempe (73) celebrates after scoring past Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Samuel Ersson (33) during the third period of an NHL hockey game, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Derik Hamilton)
Matt Rempe’s game is as straightforward as they come: Hit anything that moves and drop the gloves when necessary. But the New York Rangers rookie forward was hit with something that was even peculiar to him during the third period of their Saturday tilt against the Philadelphia Flyers.
The puck.
At the 6:31 mark of the third period in a 1-1 game, the 6-foot-7 forward got his big body to the front of the net and unknowingly sent a Braden Schneider shot that was deflected by Barclay Goodrow through the legs of Flyers netminder Samuel Ersson off his shin.
“I felt something hit my shinpad pretty hard,” Rempe said (h/t New York Rangers). “I didn’t know if it was a stick, I didn’t know if it was the puck, but I’ll take it.”
The 21-year-old’s first NHL goal proved to be the game-winner, lifting the Rangers to a franchise-record-tying 10th consecutive victory.
“He did what he was supposed to do,” Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette began, “which was go in front of the net and stand in front of the goaltender, give him a screen, and it ends up redirecting off of him and getting his first NHL goal… It’s awesome.”
Rempe now has half the amount of goals as he does fights through his first four NHL games — a bout with Flyers tough guy Nicolas Deslauriers on Saturday afternoon stealing the show in the game’s opening minutes.
After a pregame challenge from Deslauriers and nine seconds into his first shift of the game just three minutes into the first period, Rempe dropped the gloves — and the two proceeded to throw haymaker after haymaker for 37 seconds. That might not seem long on paper, but it’s an eternity in today’s game, especially considering the ferocity of the scrap.
“You don’t see a lot…
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