Reaves and Rempe fought late in the third period after the Rangers' forward injured Lyubushkin.
Reaves and Rempe fought late in the third period after the Rangers' forward injured Lyubushkin.
Ryan Reaves' fight against the New York Rangers' Matt Rempe on Saturday night, under the bright lights inside Scotiabank Arena, was the toughest of the veteran's career.
Nearly two days after his brawl with the towering Matt Rempe, Reaves spoke with the media in Toronto, dawning a bruised eye, which he acquired during the scrap. The 37-year-old said he doesn't sleep well after games, adding that he fell to sleep at around 6:30 a.m. Sunday morning.
"Honestly, I feel like the media hyped it up so much. In the first period, it was almost just like, 'Okay, let's just get this out of the way.' And then he said no, which is completely fine. The game didn't really call for it, so we left it alone," Reaves said.
"Then, obviously, he buries [Ilya Lyubushkin], whenever it was, so I thought that was an appropriate time to ask, and good on him for doing it. He's a big boy."
The two dropped the gloves with six minutes left in the third period with the Maple Leafs up 3-2 over the Rangers. It was all Rempe early in the fight, but Reaves was able to get going shortly after.
"A lot of it had to do with at the beginning of the fight, I didn't throw a lot because I had to make sure I was holding where I wanted to, make sure I positioned him in the right spot," Reaves said. "And once I was comfortable, I started throwing."
Reaves added that it was a difficult fight because of the size and reach of Rempe.
"He's definitely the longest I've ever fought for sure," he added. "He's just really lanky and for sure the biggest guy I've ever fought."
Reaves said the two spoke while in the penalty box following the brawl. The veteran forward calls Rempe "a really nice kid," adding that the 21-year-old is very humble too.
"He talked about how the media pumped it up so much, and he was like, it was two Original Six teams going at it, and how all everyone was talking about was the fight. It was cool."
Every moment where Reaves and Rempe got tied up in the game, whether it was in the first, second, or third period, the arena was loud, and fans, understandably so, wanted to see the fight.
"It was almost cool to see because it shows that fighting's not dead within the sport," Reaves said. "People still kind of get amped up for it."
It felt as though fighting in hockey came back to life on Saturday night. The fans wanted a main event, and they got it, but whether brawls like those become a regular occurrence again is yet to be seen.
Though one thing is clear: Rempe's emergence as the NHL's next enforcer is being seen by one of the league's last heavyweights.
"He's going to be a menace in this league."
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