Trevor van Riemsdyk was forced to leave Game Three 12:08 into the first period after a controversial hit laid by infamous New York Rangers forward Matt Rempe.
After playing the puck up the boards on his backhand, TVR was laid out behind the Capitals’ net by Rempe. The hulking winger appeared to make initial contact with the defender’s head.
Rempe was called for an interference minor for the hit. TVR immediately went to the Capitals’ locker room. Capitals PR updated shortly after the horn ended the first period that the veteran blueliner suffered an upper-body injury and would not return.
INJURY UPDATE: #Caps Trevor van Riemsdyk sustained an upper body injury and will not return
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) April 27, 2024
The hit comes just a game after Artemi Panarin threw a controversial hit on TJ Oshie in Game Two. Officials initially called a major penalty on Panarin, but upon reviewing video, the major was rescinded. Panarin did not receive any supplemental discipline.
“Me personally, I thought the Panarin hit was good,” Oshie told TNT before Game Three. “I love that, I think that’s the way it should be called.”
Unlike Panarin, Rempe already has a decent rap sheet with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety. In just his third career game, he received a match penalty for an illegal hit to the head on New Jersey Devils forward Nathan Bastian. Just over two weeks later he’d get another match penalty for elbowing Jonas Siegenthaler in the head.
The latter hit saw Rempe suspended for four games.
