Matt Rempe was in the New York Rangers’ lineup Tuesday for the first time in 10 days, and it didn’t take him long to get into the flow of things against the Washington Capitals.
On his first shift of the game, Rempe dropped the gloves for the first time this season, squaring off with former Rangers defenseman Dylan McIlrath. Like the heavyweights they are, Rempe and McIlrath fought at center ice, a rousing bout that left Rempe bloodied and had McIlrath roaring out loud like a lion when he headed to the penalty box.
There were several huge punches thrown, including a right hand by McIlrath after Rempe lost his helmet, and a left that drove Rempe’s visor into his cheekbone, causing a gash that required stitches. Rempe eventually got McIlrath’s bucket off as well.
It wasn’t the first time these two fought. They had a rousing bout in the American Hockey League in November 2022 when Rempe was with the Hartford Wolf Pack and Mcilrath played for the Hershey Bears.
Speaking of the Wolf Pack, Rempe returned to the Rangers on Monday after being assigned to Hartford and playing two AHL games this past weekend. He played heavy minutes, including on the power play and penalty kill. This after averaging 5:39 TOI in two games with the Rangers prior to Tuesday.
“Got to go play 17/18/19 minutes the last two games, played center, played all situations. It was good for me,” Rempe told reporters Monday. “Hadn’t played a lot of minutes in a long while so it was good for me to get all those game situations, feel the puck, play not just the physical side and play in a top-six role.”
Matt Rempe gets into heavyweight fight for Rangers against Capitals’ Dylan McIlrath
The fight was Rempe’s first since April 3 last season against Kurtis MacDermid of the New Jersey Devils. That one was hard to forget since it was of a line brawl to begin that night’s game between the Rangers and their Hudson River rivals, something that had been brewing for weeks.
McIlrath now has had two fights this season; the other was another heavyweight throwdown with Nicolas Deslauriers of the Philadelphia Flyers last week. McIlrath played his seventh game for the Capitals on Tuesday since replacing the injured Matt Roy in the lineup. The 32-year-old defenseman has not played this many games in the NHL since he appeared in 16 games with the Detroit Red Wings in 2019-20.
Selected by the Rangers with the No. 10 pick in the 2010 draft, McIlrath played his 82nd NHL game Tuesday.
