A day that started with a conversation around Matt Rempe ended in the big man being only an extra in the most physical match of these playoffs for either team so far.
There was Igor Shesterkin getting taken out and nearly becoming a participant in the ensuing scrum just 12:05 into the match.
There was Rempe snowing Frederik Andersen a few minutes later.
There was Tony DeAngelo telling K’Andre Miller, “I’ll fight you anytime,” which was picked up by ESPN’s microphones.
There was Jake Guentzel punching Adam Fox in the face, and Carolina feeling like the defenseman went down a little too easy in drawing a roughing penalty.
There was Jacob Trouba and Dmitry Orlov trading punishing hits in overtime.
This was playoff hockey, and at the end of it all, there was a 4-3 Rangers victory in double overtime and a 2-0 series lead.
Afterward, Shesterkin would say of Andrei Svechnikov — who sent him flying behind his own net some four hours earlier — “It’s playoffs. No friends in a game. I just told him, ‘Let’s play hockey.’ Not to do like this. Stupid penalties.”
And Carolina captain Jordan Staal would say of the Rangers’ penchant for drawing penalties — Fox included — “Good question. It is what it is. There’s penalties, but it’s hard for us to know how hard guys hit other guys. It is what it is.”
It is only to be expected that a seven-game series with the season on the line will feature heightened animosity from both sides. But the heat has been set to high early in this second-round matchup between Metropolitan Division rivals.
Things were noticeably more physical in Game 1 than they had been during either teams’ first-round series, but things got taken up a notch on Tuesday when Svechnikov caused every Ranger on the ice to jump to Shesterkin’s defense and the infraction was reviewed for a major before the referees determined it was only worthy of a tripping minor.
“I think it’s just natural to stick up for your goaltender, guys are gonna jump in there,” coach Peter Laviolette said. “They know how important he is to this team and they’re gonna defend him.”
Rempe, presumably in response, stopped short of Andersen a few shifts after the ensuing power play, to which Jack Drury took exception.
Referee Kelly Sutherland gave Rempe a talking to (which Svechnikov did not receive after felling Shesterkin) and No. 73 was mostly quiet for the rest of the night, with his final shift coming in the second period.
But it was not just Rempe leading the charge Wednesday.
It was the Rangers one and all.
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