Matt Rempe makes his feelings known about Igor Shesterkin’s scuffle with Brady Tkachuk 

The New York Rangers shut out the Ottawa Senators 5-0 on Tuesday night, but the game was overshadowed by a scrum between Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin and Senators forward Brady Tkachuk.

The incident occurred in the third period after Tkachuk drove hard to the net and made contact with Shesterkin, who seemed to be shaken up on the play. Immediately, Rangers players Matt Rempe and Ryan Lindgren confronted Tkachuk, while Shane Pinto joined to defend his teammate.

As Shesterkin got back on his feet, appearing injured from the contact, he skated toward Tkachuk to fight before referees intervened to separate them.

After the game, Matt Rempe, who scored his second NHL goal, commented on seeing Shesterkin go after Tkachuk:

"I was a little nervous because I don’t want anything to happen to him, but I love it just because he’s a competitor," Rempe said. "I just want to make sure I get in there and nothing happens, but it was awesome — Igor’s the man."

Shesterkin also gave his perspective on the scrum with Tkachuk:

"I got a couple of punches from Tkachuk. To be honest, it just was a hit on me and I don’t really enjoy that because I was between the pipe and him," Shesterkin said. "I didn’t want to jump there, but I saw he got in between our guy and their guy, so I just tried to hold him, but he wanted to fight."

Shesterkin further pointed out that he couldn’t drop his gloves to fight because it would mean heading to the locker room, joking that he might have gone for it if he had given up a goal.

Shesterkin received a penalty for leaving the crease while Tkachuk for interference. Both Rempe and Tkachuk got roughing penalties for the scrum. Pinto was also called for roughing Lindgren.

Alexis Lafreniere, Will Cuylle, Arthur Kaliyev, Artemi Panarin and Matt Rempe scored for the Rangers in the 5-0 shutout win in the end. Shesterkin made 20 saves before the incident occurred late in the third period.

Matt Rempe reflects on his second NHL goal

The play began in the third period with Matt Rempe instigating the rush from the defensive zone, before linking up with teammate Adam Edstrom, who deftly evaded a defender to set up the final scoring chance.

Rempe then made no mistake, roofing a backhand shot over the opposition goaltender's blocker to extend the Rangers' lead 3-0.

Speaking after the game, the young forward emphasized the importance of his defensive contributions:

"I see a pass make it, don't think too much, and then, get on my horse and they made a great play," Rempe said. "I screamed for it, get back to it. I always kinda had to move my back out, I always did that and it worked, little happy it went in."

The New York Rangers host the Philadelphia Flyers next at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.