Heading into tonight's Leafs/Rangers game, one of the big storylines was whether or not we'd get to see Ryan Reaves square off against 6'7 rookie Matt Rempe, who came into tonight's game with just 6 games of NHL experience. Well, after a dirty hit from Rempe on new Leaf Ilya Lyubushkin at the end of the second period, Reaves did indeed lock horns with Rempe in the third.
Reaves is a big, mean dude, standing 6'2 and nearly 230 lbs, but Rempe is a monster, listed at 6'7 and 241 lbs on NHL.com. Naturally, Rempe's goal in this one was to use his reach and deliver a series of jabs to avoid taking a lot of damage in this one. Regardless of what his plan was, Reaves had other ideas, landing several haymakers on Rempe in what was a pretty good tilt.
For Reaves, not only has he played better of late, but he's also showing a lot more physicality and aggression this week, dropping the gloves in back-to-back games in anticipation of the playoffs. Reaves is also fighting for his roster spot right now with the trade deadline looming.
