After Rangers’ Matt Rempe makes an impact in Game 1, Caps look to stay disciplined

The next time the Rangers and Devils played, Rempe and Kurtis MacDermid dropped the gloves off the opening draw — sparking a line brawl that led to eight ejections just two seconds into the game.

The rate at which Rempe engaged in fisticuffs eased in the final games of the regular season, but the Capitals were aware, heading into their first-round series against the Rangers, of Rempe’s reputation.

“We talked about their personnel,” Washington Coach Spencer Carbery said when asked about Rempe on Saturday. “Guys are pretty aware of their team [and] individual tendencies.”

The trick for the Capitals — who dropped Sunday’s series opener in New York and are set to meet the Rangers again for Game 2 on Tuesday night — is to find the balance between establishing their own physicality and playing into what the Rangers want, which is for the threat of Rempe’s physical ability to push Washington into reckless decisions.

“The biggest thing is play whistle to whistle,” said defenseman Dylan McIlrath, who fought Rempe in November 2022 when both were in the American Hockey League. “Especially a guy like me, in my situation, I’m not going to take an undisciplined penalty after the whistle.”

In Game 1, Rempe was penalized for charging winger Beck Malenstyn on his first shift. It was the first time the two tangled during the game but not the last — Rempe clipped Malenstyn with his elbow off the faceoff that led to the Rangers’ third goal, and Malenstyn was irate that there was no penalty called.

In between those two clashes, Rempe scored the game’s first goal, proving that he is capable of more than just causing physical chaos.

“Just a big, physical kid,” Carbery said Monday. “Brings energy. Looks like he can skate all right for his size. I didn’t like some of those sequences. The goal against off the faceoff. [His goal], the coming into the [defensive] zone against [center Dylan Strome’s] line. We need to do a way better job protecting the net there with [defenseman Alex Alexeyev], and [winger Tom Wilson] gets a little bit outside the trapezoid there.

“[Rempe] has an impact, so credit to him. He has an impact in his first playoff game he’s played. We need to do a better job against his line and their bottom six.”

Malenstyn’s frustration after the elbowing incident drives home what Rempe can do in a game and in the series, even when he’s not in the penalty box or dropping the gloves. As the biggest player on the ice, he’s a physical, imposing presence on every shift, and the Capitals have to manage that without losing their composure.

“That’s his brand of hockey,” Malenstyn said. “He’s obviously a big player that tries to impact the game that way, but I think big picture, we just have to focus a little bit more on ourselves.”

“He’s obviously trying to make his presence felt,” McIlrath added. “He’s on that fourth line, trying to bring energy. He’s finishing checks and getting to the net. A guy like me, I feel like I can match up against bigger bodies like that. Just try to win my battles against him and box him out at the net front.”

As Sunday’s game turned more physical in the second and third periods, perhaps aided by defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk’s attempt to single-handedly take on the Rangers after the buzzer sounded on the second period, Rempe largely steered clear of post-whistle shenanigans. With a goal under his belt, Rempe skated 8:33, the second-most ice time of his NHL career.

McIlrath attempted to engage Rempe late in the third period with a few cross-checks after a whistle — within the bounds of what is almost never called as a penalty while still making a presence known — and Rempe backed away from the situation. But as the series goes on, it’s likely that tensions will continue to build where Rempe is concerned, and it will be up to Washington to walk the line between standing up to him and going over the edge.

“I know there at the end there, I’m trying to mix it up,” McIlrath said. “It’s a series, so I’m sure he’d be doing the same thing if their team was down. That’s how I approached it.”

Sandin, Jensen could return

Defensemen Rasmus Sandin and Nick Jensen, who both missed Game 1 with upper-body injuries, skated in noncontact jerseys Monday at Prudential Center in New Jersey. Carbery said both are possibilities for Game 2; they will be reevaluated after Washington’s morning skate Tuesday, and a decision will be made that afternoon.

Vincent Iorio, who left Game 1 with an upper-body injury in the second period and didn’t return, didn’t practice Monday. Carbery called him day-to-day.

With the three injuries on the blue line, Lucas Johansen is the only option the Capitals currently have on the roster to step in if Sandin, Jensen and Iorio are all unavailable Tuesday — but Carbery hinted that a recall could be in the works.

“He’s the next man up that’s currently in the facility,” Carbery said of Johansen, “but we’ll see where it goes.”