Rangers rookie Matt Rempe’s latest fight was another slugfest, this time a losing effort to Blue Jackets veteran Mathieu Olivier in Columbus on Sunday when the Blueshirts’ 10-game winning streak was snapped.
With the two teams set for a rematch Wednesday night at the Garden, will we see Rempe-Olivier Round 2?
“We’ll see,” Olivier, who has a cut on his left cheek, said ahead of the game, according to The Athletic. “I don’t have an answer for you. I’m not saying that to avoid the question, I just really don’t have an answer for you.
“The Garden is going to be lively. We know that.”
The 6-foot-8 ½ Rempe, who has a black left eye after Sunday’s fight, has quickly become a phenomenon in just five games, with the forward getting into several slobberknockers and throwing some bone-crunching hits.
Olivier, who said he didn’t “relish” dropping Rempe in their first duel after Rempe asked him to drop the gloves in the first period, expressed admiration for the Rangers rookie as he looks to establish himself in the NHL.
“He’s just coming into the league, trying to make a name for himself,” Olivier said of Rempe, per The Athletic. “People don’t really understand. Guys say all the time, ‘I would do anything to play in the NHL.’ That’s what you’re seeing. That kid is right there; he’s doing anything to make it happen. Guys in the league really respect that kid, and they should.
“You gain experience through the years, figuring out what works for you. It’s been working for him. You can’t say it hasn’t been. He’s the only guy who knows when it’s enough for him. He’s the only guy who can manage that, and people should respect that.”
Rempe has already scrapped four times over his first five games, starting with his bout against the Islanders’ Matt Martin at MetLife Stadium in the Stadium Series, which happened on the first shift of Rempe’s NHL debut.
He’s also had an old-school, haymaker-filled brawl with the Flyers’ Nicolas Deslauriers and a very brief scrap with Devils’ Jonas Siegenthaler that was not officially a fight.
Nick Fotiu, who provided the same physical element for the Rangers in the ’70s and ’80s that Rempe is now, offered some advice for the rookie in a conversation with The Post’s Larry Brooks.
“I do think he should relax a little bit more and pick his spots, but that’s not as easy as it sounds,” Fotiu said. “I mean, if somebody challenges and you’re the tough guy for the New York Rangers, you’ve got to go, there are no two ways about it.
“You know me, when I first started playing [in 1976-77] I tried to give the Rangers respect that they didn’t have. I’m not saying that’s exactly the same now, but he’s doing something for them so that when the playoffs start, nobody is going to come in and think they can take physical advantage of the team.”