"Rempe only fights people half his size"- NHL fans react to Rangers’ Matt Rempe refusing to engage with Caps’ Tom Wilson in a fight

Matt Rempe’s late hit on Trevor Van Riemsdyk did not sit well with Washington Capitals Tom Wilson. He challenged the Rangers’ enforcer to a fight in the second period. However, Rempe did not throw his gloves down and declined to engage.

This clip of the exchange between the two players has since been making rounds on the internet. Fans were quick to let their opinions be known and some even mocked Matt Rempe for not taking up the challenge.

Following are some of the fan reactions:

"Rempe only fights people half his size," wrote one user.

"Rempe won’t do it. Weak," commented another user.

"Rempe is too scared and not man enough to take accountability for injuring another player with a headshot. 🤡", wrote another fan.

Meanwhile, some fans supported Rempe's decision to not engage in a fight in that particular stage of play. A few even suggested that if the Capitals were ahead at the time and had Rempe challenged Wilson instead, he too would have declined to fight.

"Sure. Rangers were winning at the time. Why bother wasting energy on Wilson?" wrote a fan.

"Kids smart, picks his moments. I bet if the score was reversed, he would have tried to drop them, and maybe Wilson would have declined," commented another fan.

"There’s no reason for Rempe to fight, thinking of his team first," another user wrote.

The Rangers are now 3-0 in the series and need one more win to advance into the next round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. As for the Capitals, it will be an uphill climb even if they manage to turn things around in Game 4.

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Tom Wilson opens up on Matt Rempe’s hit

After the game, Tom Wilson spoke to the media and he made his take clear on Matt Rempe's hit. The right wing called it a late hit and also mentioned that he thinks the incident will be investigated.

“It’s a pretty late hit. It’s a target on one of our D. You hate to see it. I think they’ll obviously look at it and take care of it. Seemed like a couple steamboats late to me,” Wilson said.

During the first period, Trevor van Riemsdyk passed the puck up the boards with his backhand when Rempe knocked him down behind the Capitals' net. The initial contact was seemingly targeted at TVR's head.

Rempe received a minor two-minute penalty for interference. Van Riemsdyk did not return for the rest of the game and was announced to have suffered an ‘upper-body’ injury.