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MONTREAL — Matt Rempe is in the midst of his first extended look of the season, skating in his sixth straight game in the Rangers’ 5-4 overtime loss to the Canadiens on Sunday night at Bell Center.
After serving an eight-game suspension for boarding and elbowing Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen on Dec. 20, the 6-foot-8 ½ forward has played a straightforward and simple game under extremely limited minutes.
Head coach Peter Laviolette capped Rempe at 5:33 TOI against the Utah Hockey Club on Thursday and 5:51 against the Blue Jackets at Madison Square Garden on Saturday before deploying the Rangers rookie for 7:18 Sunday night.
That included zero shifts in the third period in Utah, just one against Columbus and then four at Bell Center.
The 22-year-old hadn’t committed a single infraction in the previous five games, but Rempe was called for roughing and dropping the gloves with Montreal’s Arber Xhekaj.
It’s clear Rempe is still earning the trust of the coaching staff.
“I think he’s done a good job,” Laviolette said before the game. “He gets in on the forecheck, responsible defensively. Some of the decisions I make are based more on the game and what we need to do to win and score goals. I make some changes on the bench, but that’s more about me and not about him and his game. I think he’s come back and given us positive minutes and positive energy on the ice.”
Rempe spent almost all of November and the first half of December in Hartford, where there was an adjustment period while he began his expanded role with the Wolf Pack.
After going without a single point and finishing a combined minus-five through the first six games of his AHL season, Rempe said he had to up his conditioning because he wasn’t used to the amount of ice time he was receiving.
Averaging around 18 minutes a night, Rempe felt his game had come a long way in his last month with the Wolf Pack.
Rempe expected his ice time to be more what he’s used to when he got back to the NHL level, and it certainly has been.
This allows him to have so much more energy per shift, he said when he first came back up, which was what he struggled with most early on in Hartford this season.
“Winning comes first, period,” Laviolette said of how he balances doing what he thinks he needs to do to win with keeping Rempe involved for his development. “We do what we need to do in order to be successful. It’s just the way the last couple games have played out. We’re chasing games or we need to score. There’s guys that are 80-, 100-point guys on the bench. Working to get him out there.”
Building a 2-1 lead by the first intermission, the Rangers had the advantage despite posting just five shots on goal through the opening 20 minutes Sunday night.
Hometown kid Alexis Lafreniere struck first for the Rangers, taking a long shot from K’Andre Miller — which ricochetted off the wall and over the Canadiens’ net — and putting it past Montreal goalie Jakub Dobes (23 saves).
Brendan Gallagher later got a stick on a Christian Dvorak shot to even the score up.
It took all of 46 seconds for the Blueshirts to regain the lead, however, when Will Cuylle settled a loose puck from Mika Zibanejad’s forechecking and whipped it in glove side.
The Rangers are expected to be off Monday before they return to game action against the Senators on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden.
Tuesday will mark the start of a four-game homestand for the Blueshirts.
