COLUMBUS, Ohio — The NHL heavyweights are lining up for a chance to scrap with Matt Rempe.
On Sunday night, it was Blue Jackets forward Mathieu Olivier who dropped the gloves with the Rangers’ 6-foot-8 ½ monster on his first shift of the game.
The two went punch-for-punch for a bit before Olivier landed a couple of tough blows that sent Rempe to the ice.
Nationwide Arena enjoyed every second of it, and then ooh-ed and aah-ed at the replay of the bout on the jumbotron.
Blue Jackets right wing Mathieu Olivier (24) and Rangers center Matt Rempe (73) fight during the first period at Nationwide Arena. USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con
Rempe did retreat to the locker room immediately after to get looked at before returning to the game toward the end of the first period.
He finished with one assist, one shot and one block in 4:48 of ice time in the Rangers’ 4-2 loss to the Blue Jackets as the visitors’ win streak of 10 games came to a halt.
Sunday’s bout was Rempe’s fourth fight in the five NHL games he’s played.
The 21-year-old has also tussled with the Islanders’ Matt Martin, the Devils’ Jonas Siegenthaler and the Flyers’ Nicolas Deslauriers.
Matt Rempe went to the Rangers’ locker room after his fight with Mathieu Olivier of the Blue Jackets. USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con“There’s conversations all the time,” head coach Peter Laviolette said when asked if it’s sustainable for Rempe fight every game. “We don’t ever not have conversations about what’s going on. The players are out on the ice and things happen. He came back and gave us some good minutes. His line scored a goal, he went to the net, [Adam Edstrom] popped one in. So he came back and contributed.”
It was a tough Sunday night for the Jacob Trouba-K’Andre Miller pairing.
Trouba finished minus-three on the night, while Miller finished minus-two.
The duo was on the ice for three of the Blue Jackets’ four goals.
The only one they weren’t on for came at the very end of Columbus’ first power play.
Miller and Trouba got caught chasing the puck before Kirill Marchenko made it a 2-1 game 18 seconds into the second period.
Miller then came too far up in the offensive zone on Jack Roslovic’s 3-2 goal, which came off the rush just 46 seconds after Adam Edstrom knotted the game at two-all.
The same happened with Trouba on Ivan Provorov’s 4-2 score at the end of the middle frame, when the Rangers’ captain aggressively went after the puck before it was chipped out of the zone to spring the Blue Jackets on an odd-man rush.
The Rangers have scored at least one goal in the second period for nine straight games, dating to Feb. 7.
The Rangers are scheduled to be off on Monday before they return to practice on Tuesday. The Blue Jackets then venture to Madison Square Garden to complete the home-and-home series on Wednesday.
