The Rangers cruised to a 4-1 win and 1-0 lead in the best-of-7 series. Game 2 is at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN, SNW, SNO, SNE, TVAS, MNMT, MSG).
"It was fantastic," said forward Artemi Panarin, who scored New York's second goal. "I mean, the fans were going wild, we on the bench were ecstatic. It was just great to see that. Such an important goal."
Rempe scored from in front of the left post off a tip pass from Jimmy Vesey after leading the rush out of the defensive zone, through the neutral zone and into the offensive zone before dishing the puck to Barclay Goodrow, curling behind the net and then stopping in front.
"A little bit of shock," he said of scoring a goal in a playoff game at Madison Square Garden. "It was like, 'Oh my gosh.' It didn't really kick in and then you hear the crowd. It was a dream come true. It was unreal."
Rempe was also a physical presence on Vesey's goal that made it 3-0 at 6:23, getting in the way of Beck Malenstyn to create room for the shot off Goodrow's face-off win to get through traffic and past Charlie Lindgren.
He had another shot on goal on another rush that he led, and contributed three hits, all in a team-low 8:33 of ice time.
"Any game he's in the lineup he's had an effect on the game," Vesey said. "It's been fun playing with him. He shows up every night for the team. It's great to see him get that goal. It was a big goal in the game, obviously, but the look on his face was pretty cool too."
Said Rangers coach Peter Laviolette, "Maybe because it was him too it put a little more extra juice in the building."
There's no doubt about it.
Rempe-mania is sweeping through the Rangers fanbase and the Garden faithful.
They have loved him since he made his NHL debut in the 2024 NHL Stadium Series game at MetLife Stadium on Feb. 18, when he fought Matt Martin of the New York Islanders one second into his first NHL shift, just 1:29 into the game.
They chant his last name whenever he's on the ice, including in pregame warm-ups. They go crazy when he makes a big hit, or even when he attempts to make a big hit and misses. They wear his jersey, No. 73 on the back, and don T-shirts made in his honor.
When he was a healthy scratch against the Philadelphia Flyers on April 11, the fans chanted "We want Rempe" toward the end of what was a rather lifeless 4-1 loss.
Rempe played in the last two games of the regular season and obviously made a huge impact Sunday. And now we know the reaction to him is at another level when he scores at the Garden.
"The crowd was absolutely buzzing, and it was fun," Rempe said. "I'll always remember it. It was awesome."
Laviolette, a head coach in the NHL since 2001, was asked if he has experienced anything like the mania around Rempe since he's been in the League.
Nope.
"To the question you're asking I can't think of a player that's come in and had that impact on a team, on a fanbase, on a city," Laviolette said. "If you watch him and look at him he just smiles, he's just happy, loves being here, loves to play the game. He's been great, but I can't think of anybody off the top of my head."
Rempe's energy and the energy the fans create in the building for him spreads to the rest of the team, especially his line.
"You've seen it, you've heard it from the building, any time they're on the ice they're getting the building going and doing whatever they can to be hard on their top guys and still produce offensively," defenseman K'Andre Miller said.
That was obvious Sunday with Rempe, Vesey and Goodrow. They got the offense going. They were effective on nearly every 5-on-5 shift. Laviolette had them on the ice for the last minute of the game too.
"I mean, obviously him scoring sent the fans crazy and then we scored two more goals in the next two minutes so I think he definitely gets the crowd into the game," Vesey said. "The team with home ice advantage is going to try to feed off the energy in the crowd. I can't say for certain that's why we scored three goals, but he definitely gets everyone into the game."
And when he does, the fans keep chanting his name.
"Love 'em, they're the best," Rempe said. "They're chanting all night. I love them so much. I can't thank them enough."
