PHILADELPHIA — At this point, it’s almost becoming routine.
Rangers fourth-line forwards Matt Lempe and Nicolas Deslauriers took off their gloves just three minutes into the first period and engaged in an old-school match at the Wells Fargo Center, trading punches before Deslauriers took Lempe off the ice. I ended up throwing it away.
It all started shortly after the showdown, when the pair skated in circles for more than a dozen seconds after the gloves hit the ice. Other Rangers and Flyers skaters were moved out of the way. The referees made no attempt to intervene.
The 6-foot-8 Lempe then lunged at DesLauriers, and the two traded punches for nearly 40 seconds until the top of Lempe’s jersey caught on his head and he fell to the ice, trying to steady himself with one hand. It happened. A few seconds later.
This was Lempe’s second game in four games since being called up from AHL Hartford, his first game being the Stadium Series win over the Islanders in his first NHL transfer.
In Thursday’s win over the Devils, Lempe also slammed Nathan Bastian into the boards on his first shift, earning a game penalty. There was no hearing from the NHL.
“That’s just a big guy. Everything’s down. Nothing’s wrong,” Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette said after Thursday’s game. “His arm never went up. I’m glad [Bastian] He came back and played and was not injured. No one wants to see someone get hurt, but it’s just hard.
“He’s a big guy. He went full speed ahead, held everything down, tried to penetrate the body, and I’m sure he hit everything. It’s a tough call. We looked at it. I’ll make a decision.”
Rempe now has 27 penalty minutes since joining the Blueshirts after a battle with Deslauriers, where the Blueshirts forward had a seven-inch height advantage. He still spent less than 10 minutes on the ice total.
