Getty Rangers forward Matt Rempe's composure was tested by a few frustrated Panthers players after the Game 3 overtime win.
Whether you were filled with pleasure or ire following the New York Rangers‘ overtime win against the Florida Panthers in Game 3, you might have missed what happened during the celebrations.
Daily Faceoff’s Jonny Lazarus captured the celebration in a short clip he shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, on May 26, commenting on Alex Wennberg‘s game-winning goal.
Alex Wennberg scores his first goal as a New York Ranger in the biggest moment.
#NYR lead the series 2-1 and are now 4-0 in overtime this postseason.
“Alex Wennberg scores his first goal as a New York Ranger in the biggest moment,” Lazarus wrote. “#NYR lead the series 2-1 and are now 4-0 in overtime this postseason.”
However, Bleacher Report’s Open Ice pointed out something else happening on the ice, a bit separated from the area where Rangers players were celebrating the win in a huddle.
A couple of Panthers players picked off Matt Rempe as he was coming off the bench to celebrate the Rangers OT winner 😅
(via @JLazzy23)
“A couple of Panthers players picked off Matt Rempe as he was coming off the bench to celebrate the Rangers OT winner,” the B/R account wrote on X.
Matt Rempe in the Lineup for Back-to-Back Games
The Rangers ruled out third-line forward Jimmy Vesey for Game 3 nursing an “upper-body” injury, listing him “week-to-week.” Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette reintroduced Kaapo Kakko back in the lineup after making him a healthy scratch for Game 2.
Rookie Rempe played just 4:02 minutes in Game 3, spending two minutes inside the penalty box following a roughing penalty on Panthers’ Sam Reinhart.
Matt Rempe’s Roughing penalty against Sam Reinhart that led to Reinhart’s second power play goal.
Rempe got only three shifts in the final two periods and none in overtime. That allowed Florida’s coach Paul Maurice to make the last change.
The coach kept Rempe on the bench more often than not in the series against the Carolina Hurricanes and now against the Panthers.
Entering Game 4, however, Laviolette will need to decide if he wants to keep Rempe on the gameday roster or if he’d be better off flipping him for another option. Considering his low playing time but how the rookie seems to boost his team’s confidence, the debate is fair to have.
Blake Wheeler Could Replace Matt Rempe in Game 4
The best option on the Rangers’ roster to replace Rempe in the lineup might be veteran forward Blake Wheeler. Wheeler, however, hasn’t played since he suffered a leg injury in February.
The team ruled out Wheeler for the remainder of the season, but he returned to skate with his teammates during the playoffs. Something similar happened to Filip Chytil, who has already appeared in a handful of games this postseason without trouble.
Wheeler is coming off a regular season in which he scored a career-low 21 points in 54 games. If he’s not quite there physically, however, Laviolette could opt to use Jonny Brodzinski.
Brodzinski played two games in the second-round series against the Hurricanes and is a more agile player than Wheeler. He can also play center, which would give Laviolette some flexibility if he has to shuffle his lineups at some point.
Brodzinski scored 19 points in the regular season appearing in 57 games, although he was a negative minus-3 during his time on ice. In the playoffs, Brodzinski has logged a little over 17 minutes of combined played time with no points scored but three shots blocked.
Kaapo Kakko ‘Not Happy’ With Scratch
Considering Vesey’s injured status, Kakko should stay in the lineup for the time being. The former 2019 No. 2 pick spoke about his scratch following the Game 3 win at Florida.
“It’s part of the game,” Kakko told The Athletic on May 27. “Somebody’s not playing. We just need to win six more games so I’m not thinking about it.”
ALEX WENNBERG GAME WINNER!!!
NEW YORK HAS TAKEN A 2-1 SERIES LEAD #StanleyCup
With Vesey out, Kakko logged 14:06 minutes of playing time. He didn’t score a point but participated in Wennberg’s overtime goal by blocking the Panthers from getting possession of the puck in the play ending with the disc kissing Florida’s net.
“I’m allowed 12 forwards and so we made a decision to put Matt [Rempe] back in the lineup,” Laviolette said about his decision of scratching Kakko for Game 2, via New York Post’s Mollie Walker. “When somebody goes into the lineup, there’s a decision that has to be made on somebody else. It wasn’t because we were banged up, I needed to make a decision.
“There’s a lot of things that factor into these decisions, we don’t take them lightly. And so we made a decision and it was Kaapo.”