WASHINGTON -- Matt Rempe was surrounded by a group of reporters following the New York Rangers practice at Capital One Arena on Saturday. It was the second time the rookie fourth-line forward has been the center of attention in the Eastern Conference First Round.
The first time was so he could talk about the goal he scored and the impact he made in the Rangers' 4-1 win against the Washington Capitals in Game 1.
On Saturday, it was so he could answer questions about his hit on Capitals defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk in New Yorks' 3-1 win in Game 3 that put it up 3-0 in the best-of-7 series going into Game 4 on Sunday (8 p.m. ET; MAX, MNMT, truTV, MSGSN, TBS, MSG, SNP, SNO, SNE, SN360, TVAS).
That's just the way it is for Rempe because, despite his limited ice time, he is the most polarizing player in this series; a 6-foot-7 fan favorite at home, a villain on the road, a player who has the eyes of the national hockey media on him.
"I play my game," Rempe said. "If it's more attention, I have no issue with that. If there's good media, bad media, whatever, I don't care what anyone has to say. If it's bad or anything, it is what it is. I'm just trying to go and play my game. If I'm being effective and making big hits and clean hits and hard hits, then people, other teams aren't going to like that. But I've got to make sure it's clean. I've got to make sure it's clean and I thought that was clean yesterday. Obviously, you never want to see a guy hurt, but I thought it was clean."
The hit in question knocked van Riemsdyk out of Game 3 at 12:08 of the first period and potentially out of the series with an upper-body injury. Rempe received a two-minute minor penalty for interference. It was one of six the Rangers killed off.
The NHL Department of Player Safety has not deemed the hit to be worthy of supplemental discipline as of Saturday afternoon.
Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said he has no reason to believe Rempe wouldn't be available for Game 4.
Van Riemsdyk did not practice Saturday. He's out for Game 4.
The Capitals, obviously, do not like it.
"I think it's really close on a bunch of different fronts, from the interference, charging, late," Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. "It's such a fine line because the game is so fast and the physicality is such an important part of the game of hockey in the NHL, but there is a line and player safety is a big, big issue with our league and protecting players and the players’ onus on that. It's tight. It's really, really tight. So, I don't know. I haven't heard anything on supplemental discipline or how they're handling that. Because he just turns. I don't know if there's a set amount of time that they put on a stop clock of when a guy gets rid of a puck and then it's one-one thousand, two one-thousand and bang. Yeah, really close."
That's Rempe's game. He's going to live on that fine line Carbery talked about. The Rangers have accepted it. They feel when he's on the right side he's effective even in limited ice time (7:08 per game in the series, 5:38 per game in 17 regular-season games).
"We're just trying to manage him and make sure he understands that he's important when he's on the ice as well," Laviolette said. "If you watched him from when he first got here to when he plays now, even when he practices now, it's just completely different. He's elevating his game on the ice and so we need him on the ice as well for his game, for his size, for his physicality, for his speed. We need to make sure he's on the ice."
The NHL ruled Rempe went over the line on March 11, when he elbowed New Jersey Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler in the head and received a four-game suspension for his actions.
Rempe said he regularly watches his hits to try to learn from them.
"Because the big thing for me is I've got to keep everything compact, that's what I'm always looking for," he said. "No elbows I guess is one thing I've got to make sure. I'm so big that once I'm committed to a hit, I've got to make sure that everything's tucked and if guys are jumping out of the way I've got to make sure, hey, I can't stick anything out as a reactionary thing. I've got to just miss the hit. I've just got to miss it. I've got to pull out of it."
He didn't on the hit on Siegenthaler. The NHL Department of Player Safety video on the hit and suspension referenced that point, saying he raises his elbow up and with force after recognizing he was going to miss the hit entirely.
Rempe said he feels the hit on van Riemsdyk was different, that he feels his elbows were tucked, he was compact and he went through the body.
"My job is to finish hits there and be hard on the forecheck," Rempe said. "I thought it was a clean hit. It was a quick play. I just went through the body. Obviously, you never want anyone to get hurt, and that's terrible that he's hurt and I'm sorry to hear about that. But I think it was a clean hit."
There will be differing opinions on that, just as there are on Rempe's game in general, but he was clear talking in front of the gaggle of reporters Saturday that he won't stop playing his game his way.
"In New York there, they love it when I'm playing hard," Rempe said. "And if you go on the road and they don't like it, that means you're playing hard, you're playing physical. That's good. I have no issue with that.
"I play hard, physical and sometimes people don't like that and there's lots of different opinions," he also said. "It does not bother me at all what anyone thinks. Just want to play my game."
