The New York Rangers welcomed the Carolina Hurricanes to Madison Square Garden for Game 1 of their second-round matchup and defeated them 4-3 in a seven-goal affair.
In what certainly was a high-scoring contest, the number of penalties called easily overshadowed the overall goal tally. Officials called 10 penalties throughout the game and six in a span of 10 minutes in the first period alone.
Rangers rookie Matt Rempe wasn’t involved in the little brawl that emerged midway through the first period but judging by his reaction from inside the penalty box (as captured by B/R Open Ice on X), it’s fair to assume he would have loved to partake in the physical exchange.
Matt Rempe Sent to the Penalty Box, Targeted by Referees?
Rempe’s reaction to the scrum was captured by the cameras only because a penalty of his own led him there, creating a power-play chance for Carolina that evolved into that mini-brawl enjoyed by the rookie enforcer.
The penalty called on Rempe, however, was highly questioned by a few hockey analysts and it made New York Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette furious on the Blueshirts bench.
Rempe was skating across the Hurricanes’ defensive zone and approaching Frederik Andersen‘s crease when Carolina’s captain Jordan Staal bumped the Rangers forward toward the netminder.
The rookie wasn’t expecting the hit and had no room to change direction, so he crashed into Andersen and the refs called a goalie interference minor (two minutes on the box) on Rempe.
The Athletic’s Mark Lazerus, a noted critic of Rempe’s style of play for the reasons he explained in a piece published on April 27, acknowledged Staal’s action leading to the interference but mentioned the league-wide perception of Rempe in the eyes of officials as a potential reason for the penalty getting called.
“Sure looked like Staal steered Rempe into Andersen, but we’re at a point where I doubt refs are gonna give Rempe the benefit of the doubt, fair or not,” Lazerus wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Tony DeAngelo Elbow-Headshots Rookie, MSG Crowd Rains Jeers
Rempe might be known for his physical presence and a steady stream of high-power hits, but Hurricanes defenseman and former New York Rangers player Tony DeAngelo isn’t far from matching the rookie’s antics.
DeAngelo, in fact, took Rempe’s baton and was the main agitator on the penalty-laden Game 1 between Carolina and New York played on Monday, mostly because of the elbow headshot he dropped on rookie Will Cuylle midway through the first period.
DeAngelo caught Cuylle way high on the head with his elbow and his shoulder in a dangerous hit that was initially called for a major penalty but reduced to a minor after it was reviewed by the officials on the ice.
The defenseman played four seasons in New York with the Rangers spanning from 2017 through 2021. He appeared in 167 games scoring 92 total points with a minus-6 plus/minus, racking up 139 minutes in penalties while averaging 18:45 TOI in those years.
A villain in the eyes of the Rangers faithful, DeAngelo surely played the role to perfection in Game 1 with that hit and the comments he made after the game when asked about the play and the series between New York and Carolina as a whole.
“I don’t give two you-know-whats about it,” DeAngelo told reporters after the Game 1 loss, via ESPN. “I’m not even going to get into it. It’s tough. We had five power plays too, so [those calls] can go both ways. It’s a tough job for them guys, and then they make a call. So, it is what it is.”
Following his comeback to the ice after spending time in the box (just nine seconds, the time it took Rangers’ Mika Zibanejad to score in the power play following the penalty) the MSG crowd booed DeAngelo without restraint, and although he tried to engage with Rempe in a fight at the end of the first period, things didn’t escalate.
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