Artemi Panarin was on the ice for nearly 1,650 minutes in every regular season game and then for a little over 17 1/2 minutes in the first game of the playoffs Sunday.
On the other hand Matt Rempe is 18 games into his career with a little over 107 minutes of experience of mostly throwing his 6-foot-7 frame around and delivering hits of varying degrees and varying reactions from opponents.
As much of a star as Panarin is, Rempe is more of a cult icon, especially in the rare case of a player known more for the other stuff getting a goal.
The first period of the Rangers’ playoff run was a tight checking, closely called affair with a few lulls and not much action other than Rempe’s big hit that resulted in a power play a little over two minutes in. Then the moment came resulting in the first goal and awakening a crowd who at times during the regular season might chant his name if boredom set in.
Rempe started the rush, the Rangers cycled the puck around. After the third pass, he casually moved behind the net by strolling past Washington defenseman Alexander Alexeyev. Then he positioned himself about 10 feet away, waited for Jimmy Vesey to slide the puck through the crease and deflected it in for his second career goal and one that added more to his cult figure status, doing so with his mother in the crowd for the first time in his brief NHL career.
“I was really special because she got to hear the chants and I got a goal and stuff,’’ Rempe said about two hours after his goal while speaking in front of the biggest media crowd he probably ever encountered “Obviously, I love her so much. She’s my biggest fan. We went out for dinner last night and walked around. She’s never really been in New York, so we were just walking around, and it was definitely cool. I bet she was pretty emotional today… Yeah, she’s the best.’’
And then in a fit of modesty, he acknowledged how frustrated the Capitals appeared at some of the 31 hits they took from the Rangers.
“I don’t know. I just, I’m gonna play hard,’’ he said. “I feel like if that happens… that’s good. That means I’m doing do my job. But, I don’t know, it’s one game… I think I was being effective tonight, but I’ve still got a lot of work to do.’’
Rempe is so much of the story because he was a sixth-round pick, a round where star players often are not picked, though exceptions include Henrik Lundqvist being a seventh-round pick in 2000. And because players on fourth lines do not typically get a ton of goals though nowadays slightly more scoring is needed since that aspect of the game has lessened at times.
And to show the impact, coach Peter Laviolette hesitated twice when asked if anyone he ever coached before ever provided this kind of impact with fans. Laviolette would be an expert on the topic since he coached the New York Islanders from 2001-2003, the Carolina Hurricanes from 2003-2009, the Philadelphia Flyers from 2009-2013, the Nashville Predators from 2014-2020 and the Washington Capitals in the previous four seasons but came up empty thinking of anyone else besides Rempe, who totaled 50 hits and 71 penalty minutes in the regular season.
“I can’t think of a player that’s come in and have that impact on a team, on a fan base, on a city,” Laviolette said. “If you just watch him, look at him, he just smiles. He’s just happy, loves being here, loves to play the game.”
The mania for Rempe is present because he entered the lineup in a prominent game, fighting Matt Martin in the outdoor game against the New York Islanders on Feb. 18. Then he scored a goal in Philadelphia on Feb. 24 that enabled to Rangers to win their 10th in a row and then he famously was the main event in the nationally televised line brawl with the Devils on April 3.
Rempe’s situation of being a cult figure even exceeds Colton Orr, who played 224 games for the Rangers and scored four times while racking up 522 penalty minutes from 2005 through 2009.
The first of those goals occurred Feb. 9, 2007 against Tampa Bay and prompted an all-time quip from Jaromir Jagr, who described the moment that also featured a goal by fellow tough guy Ryan Hollweg by saying this gem:
“It was fun to watch those guys score. It’s like in football, everybody likes to see a big, fat guy score a touchdown and celebrate, everybody likes to see a linebacker run in for a touchdown and see a big celebration.
“I love it, too. Uh, oh, don’t tell those guys I said that.”
And these days, the Rangers want to see occasional scoring from fourth-liners, especially ones who get their name chanted at every turn for other reasons.
“We’re just making sure that just because he hits hard — he hits people — he doesn’t have to go and fight every single time,” Laviolette said late in the regular season. “We want him to play the game. He’s an effective player for us.”