Matt Rempe once again found himself in the center of a skirmish on Monday night, as the Rangers rookie enforcer was slapped with a game misconduct for elbowing Jonas Siegenthaler in the head late in the second period at Madison Square Garden.
Rempe was ejected just weeks ago in the last installment of the Hudson River Rivalry for a high hit on Nathan Bastian on Feb. 22. Days later, New Jersey acquired enforcer Kurtis MacDermid in a trade with the Avalanche, and MacDermid called out Rempe after the game, revealing that he challenged the rookie to drop the gloves early in the game as retribution for the hit on Bastian, and that Rempe didn’t oblige.
“I asked him. There's a bit of a code. I thought he would've answered that,” MacDermid said. “I don't know what he was told, but he said no.
After a hit like that, it kind of goes without saying you should answer the bell in some way and be a man about it. Then he throws another hit that gets him kicked out and with a possible suspension. So, there's a right way to go about things and the wrong way.”
MacDermid tried to go after Rempe again after the hit on Siegenthaler, but Rempe was ushered off the ice by an official, waving to MacDermid before disappearing down the tunnel, almost certain to receive a suspension.
“He's a young kid,” MacDermid said. “He has a lot to learn still. You don't do things like that when you're in your first year in the league. I lost quite a bit of respect for him tonight.”