Matt Lempe made a huge impression on the Devils in just five minutes.
The big-bodied Rangers rookie has only played a few shifts against the Hudson River rivals, totaling 5 minutes and 03 seconds of ice time, but has played an incredible 47 minutes, including ejections in all three games against the Devils. earned penalty time.
The feud between New Jersey and Rempe culminated in a full-scale line brawl at the Garden on Wednesday night, resulting in a total of 132 penalties and eight ejections in just two seconds.
A brief history of Rempe and the Demons is as follows.
February 22, 2024
Lempe took a hard hit on Nathan Bastian, forcing the Devils forward to head to the locker room bloodied.
Defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler challenged Rempe to answer the bell, but withered after two punches from the 6-foot-8 bruiser.
Still, Bastian’s hit ended Lempe’s night just 2 minutes and 25 seconds into the game. This was thanks to an additional two-minute roughing penalty.
Total: 1 shift, 0:13 ice time, 17 PIM
March 11, 2024
The Devils were itching to get some retribution, but instead they were further hurt and upset by the Rangers’ rookie.
Late in the second period, Lampe elbowed Siegenthaler in the face, enraging defenseman Curtis McDiarmid, who had tried to engage Lempe earlier in the night, for not dropping his gloves.
Rempe never helped the situation, receiving a five-minute major for an elbow strike and 10 minutes of misconduct, waving at an irate McDiarmid as he was taken off the ice by the referee.
“Obviously after a hit like that, you have to answer the bell in some way and be a man about it. Then the game went on and he got sent off for another hit like that,” McDiarmid said. said after the game.
Total: 8 shifts, 4:48 TOI, 15 PIM
April 3, 2024
Rangers manager Peter Laviolette reinserted Lempe into the lineup for the team’s third matchup with the Devils, preparing for a fistful of fireworks.
As the puck hit the ice during the opening faceoff, his glove fell to the ice and a punch flew.
McDiarmid finally faced off against Rempe, and the two traded heavy blows for a minute, with all 10 skaters at center ice in full force.
When the chaos finally ended, both Rempe and McDiarmid were ejected, along with the Rangers’ Barclay Woodrow, Jacob Trouba and K’Andre Miller, and the Devils’ Kevin Barr, Chris Tierney and John Marino.
Penalty time between the combatants totaled 132 minutes, with teammates adding another 30 minutes worth of infractions during a tough opening.
Total: 1 shift, 0:02 TOI, 15 PIM
