Picture this: Matt Lempe gets the puck on his stick skates at full speed over Senators goaltender Anton Forsberg.
His linemate Adam Edstrom passed the puck to himself off the wall, then tipped it to Rempe, who was in the middle along Broadway inside a rolling Madison Square Garden.
En route to the Rangers' 5-0 win over the Senators on Tuesday night, time slackened for a moment when the 6-foot-8 1/2 forward deftly carried the puck to his backhand and sank a three-point lead without hesitation.
“It's so exciting for me and Eddie (one of my best friends) to connect like this,” Rempe said. “I think we played really well together and I think we’re just going to keep doing that.”
Rempe was suspended for eight games for elbowing and boarding Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen, but Tuesday night marked his seventh straight appearance.
The Rangers are 5-0-2 in that span.
There are many other things that have contributed to Rangers' turnaround, but it would be remiss to not recognize how Lempe's presence has influenced it.
The fourth line of Rempe, Edstrom and Sam Carrick outscored the Senators 6-1 on the ice. In addition to this, you have a 3-1 advantage in dangerous chances, according to Natural Stat Trick.
“I think I can bring a lot of physicality, I think I can make plays with the puck, I can use my body and my speed, I can play good defense,” he said, who has a goal and an assist this season. said Rempe. “I’ve been working on making a lot of plays with the puck, and I think the more I do it, the more comfortable I get and the more I can make plays.
“So just take a breath, try to find the next pass and continue the O-zone sequence, and I think you can do it.”
Head coach Peter Laviolette praised Rempe's calmness in scoring the goal.
But when physical deterrence was needed, Lempe was there to fulfill his responsibility.
A brawl broke out in the third period after Brady Tkachuk took a shot at Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin. Shesterkin appeared upset before going after the Senators captain seeking retaliation.
Lempe quickly joined up with Shesterkin, and even though the referee tied up Big 73, he still came out of the scrum and grabbed Tkachuk. The two men tried to trade punches around the referee, who was keeping his distance.
“I'm a little nervous because I don't want anything to happen to him, but I love it,” Lempe said of what went through his mind when he saw Shesterkin chasing Tkachuk. Ta. “Because he's a competitor. I just want to get in there and make sure nothing happens. It was great, Igor is the guy.”
The Rangers extended their winning streak to nine games (6-0-3) and reached the 50-point mark for the season.
Shesterkin recorded his fifth consecutive shutout of his career and second of the same season.
The Russian star netminder is one of only three goaltenders in franchise history to accomplish the feat five times, joining Lorne Chabot (six times) and Ed Giacomin (five times).
