Picture this: Matt Rempe gets the puck on his stick skating full speed at Senators goalie Anton Forsberg.
His linemate Adam Edstrom had passed the puck off the wall to himself before chipping it to Rempe in the middle streaking down Broadway inside a rumbling Madison Square Garden.
For a moment, time slowed down as the 6-foot-8 ½ forward finessed the puck to his backhand before burying without hesitation for a three-goal lead on the way to the Rangers’ 5-0 drubbing of the Senators on Tuesday night.
“It’s pretty exciting, me and Eddy — one of my best buddies — to connect like that,” Rempe said. “I think that we’ve been playing really well together. I think we just keep it going.”
Tuesday night was Rempe’s seventh straight appearance after serving an eight-game suspension for elbowing/boarding Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen.
The Rangers are 5-0-2 over that span.
While there’s so much more that has gone into the Rangers’ turnaround, it would be negligent not to acknowledge how Rempe’s presence has factored into it.
The fourth line, of Rempe, Edstrom and Sam Carrick, outshot the Senators 6-1 when they were on the ice. This in addition to owning a 3-1 edge in high-danger chances, according to Natural Stat Trick.
“I think I can bring a lot of physicality, but I think I can make plays with the puck and use my body and speed, be good defensively,” said Rempe, who has a goal and assist on the season. “I’ve been working a lot on my plays with the puck and I think the more I work the more comfortable I get, the more I can make plays.
“Take a breath out there, try to find the next pass, try to continue O-zone sequences and I think I can do that.”
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Head coach Peter Laviolette credited Rempe with the poise he showed to score the goal he did.
When it came down to needing a physical deterrent, however, Rempe was present and accounted for.
A big scuffle broke out in the third period after Brady Tkachuk barreled into Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin, who seemed shaken up before he sought retribution and went after the Senators captain.
Rempe immediately went to join Shesterkin and even though refs had Big No. 73 tied up, he still came out of the scrum with Tkachuk in his grasp. The two tried to trade punches around the ref who was holding them apart.
“A little nervous cause I don’t want anything to happen to him, but I love it,” Rempe said of what was going through his mind when he saw Shesterkin go after Tkachuk. “Just cause he’s a competitor. Just want to make sure I get in there and nothing happens. It was awesome, Igor’s the man.”
The Rangers extended their point streak to nine games (6-0-3) to reach the 50-point mark on the season.
Shesterkin posted back-to-back shutouts for the fifth time in his career and second time in as many seasons.
The star Russian netminder is one of only three goalies in franchise history to accomplish the feat on five occasions, following Lorne Chabot (six times) and Ed Giacomin (five).