Rangers send Matt Rempe right back down to AHL Hartford after appearance against Blues
Matt Rempe’s return to Broadway didn’t last long. Recalled by the New York Rangers on Monday morning and in the lineup for that night’s 5-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues, the hulking forward was reassigned to Hartford of the American Hockey League on Tuesday.
Rempe was added to the roster when Chris Kreider was ruled out with an upper-body injury Monday. The 22-year-old replaced Jonny Brodzinski in the lineup, skating 9:26 TOI on the fourth line. Kreider’s spot in the lineup was taken by Brett Berard, who was also recalled from Hartford and earned an assist in his NHL debut skating on a line with Mika Zibanejad and Will Cuylle.
Brodzinski will return to the lineup Wednesday against the Carolina Hurricanes. Kreider remains out, as does Filip Chytil, who is skating, but will miss his sixth consecutive game.
Chad Ruhwedel was recalled from Hartford when Rempe was reassigned. The Rangers now have seven defensemen again on the roster. Ruhwedel has played one game this season and was passed over Saturday when the Rangers brought up rookie Victor Mancini and flew him out to Edmonton to replace the injured Zac Jones in the a 6-2 loss to the Oilers.
Related: Peter Laviolette impressed with Brett Berard’s NHL debut: ‘trying to make a difference’
Matt Rempe sent back to minors by Rangers
Rempe didn’t make much of an impact against the Blues. He, Sam Carrick and Jimmy Vesey had a team-worst xGF of -14.59 percent, per Natural Stat Trick. They were out-chanced 5-1, including 2-0 in high-danger opportunities in limited TOI.
Playing only his fourth game with the Rangers this season, Rempe was credited with one hit and lost the only face-off he took. His most noticeable moment was when he steamrolled Blues forward Jake Neighbours early in the second period. However, he was assessed a two-minute minor for roughing because the puck was nowhere near Neighbours when the hit was delivered in front of the benches.
Coach Peter Laviolette couldn’t have been too happy about that since the Rangers had just given up the go-ahead goal and were in danger of falling behind by a pair. The Rangers did kill off Rempe’s penalty, and the popular forward played three more shifts in the period.
Rempe was also involved in a brief scrum at the end of the second period, one that was more pushing and shoving than anything else. Cuylle and Neighbours received unsportsmanlike conduct minors, but Rempe was not penalized.
Instead, Rempe was laughing when the teams headed off the ice after goalies Igor Shesterkin and Hofer clipped skates and had a staredown at center ice.
With Hartford this season, Rempe has two goals, one assist and is minus-7. He scored on a neat deflection Saturday against Springfield.
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