Matt Rempe’s physical Rangers return not enough to spur Game 5 win
NY Post
Matt Rempe was back in the Rangers’ lineup for Game 5 after being benched in both Game 3 and 4 of their playoff series against Carolina.
He made his presence felt with his physicality, but it wasn’t enough in the decisive third period as the Rangers collapsed in a 4-1 loss at Madison Square Garden to extend the series.
Although Rempe took the league by storm earlier in the season, he found his ice time slipping even against the Capitals in the first round of the playoffs.
That continued in the first two games against Carolina before he didn’t play the next two games.
But with the series back at the Garden on Monday — and with the Rangers having a chance to advance to the Eastern Conference Final — Rempe returned to action.
At the team’s morning skate on Monday, Rempe said coach Peter Laviolette told him not to be discouraged by his lack of ice time.
PHOENIX — You think of Tom Thibodeau, you think of defense.
It feels right that on the day we celebrate Aaron Judge joining an elite pantheon of athlete — the multi-time winner of the Most Valuable Player award — that we take a walk back to the beginning, when Judge was little more than a 6-foot-7, 280-pound curiosity who mostly specialized in striking out.
The NFL has warned its players to take precautions against a “transnational crime ring” that is suspected of orchestrating a number of break-ins of athletes’ homes including Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce.
Joel Embiid isn’t pleased with details of the 76ers’ team meeting after Monday’s loss being leaked, telling reporters after Wednesday’s road loss to the Grizzlies, “whoever leaked that is a real piece of s–t.”
PHOENIX — Jalen Brunson didn’t want to comment on the NBA looking into his father’s promotion and contract as a potential salary-cap circumvention, but the point guard certainly had a message to anybody questioning Rick Brunson’s coaching credentials.
PHOENIX — Wednesday brought some cautiously optimistic updates for the Knicks frontcourt.
The Greatest Escape in franchise history was perpetrated by Glen Sather, when the general manager extricated himself and the Rangers from the final five years of Scott Gomez’s contract by moving the $7,357,143-per-year center to Montreal on June 30, 2009 after two years in New York.
The Yankees publicly are on the same page: Hal Steinbrenner, like Brian Cashman and Aaron Boone before him, said that issues with the club’s fundamentals did not hover over the team all season.
The first day of the rest of Daniel Jones’ dwindling time with the Giants arrived Wednesday, with Jones in the building, in the meetings, on the practice field (although not doing very much) and not at all part of the game plan for the next game, relegated to a non-participant role for the remainder of the season.
There will be a little extra magic for Knicks-Spurs on Christmas Day.