Nicolas Deslauriers' presence in the Philadelphia Flyers' lineup is no longer guaranteed, unlike before. During a 10-game stretch surrounding the All-Star break, Deslauriers found himself on the sidelines as a healthy scratch for six of those matches.

There was little uncertainty about his presence on Saturday at Wells Fargo Center against the New York Rangers, especially with the imposing figure of Matt Rempe on the opposing team. The two formidable players wasted no time engaging in a physical showdown, initiating what could arguably be deemed the highlight fight of the NHL season thus far, just three minutes into the opening period of the Rangers' eventual 2-1 victory.

It was a wild minute of intense action. Both guys threw punches, and neither was backing down.

The confrontation began when the 6-foot-1, 218-pound Deslauriers engaged with Rempe, who stands at 6-7 and weighs 241 pounds. Rempe, in only his fourth NHL game, had already stirred some controversy by delivering a forceful hit that left New Jersey's Nathan Bastian bloodied in Thursday's game against the Devils.

“I saw him kind of lurking in the warm-ups,” Deslauriers said. “I’m a guy that doesn’t take no for an answer often, so just went (to him) politely and said, ‘Are we going to do this?’ And, there it is.”

Said Rempe: “He asked me in warmups. Real tough customer, again, and I said, ‘Hell yeah, let’s go.’ We were throwing bombs, a long fight. It was awesome. Got the juices flowing. It was unreal.”

The linesmen, responsible for maintaining order on the ice, showed a willingness to let the fight between Deslauriers and Rempe unfold without immediate intervention. Despite Deslauriers being visibly more affected by the altercation than Rempe, he did not express any disagreement or objection to the linesmen's decision to allow the fight to reach its conclusion without interference.

“I’ve been asked this question a lot, it happened to me a couple times, when the helmets come off, they come in,” he said. “I get the full concussion protocols, if somebody falls and everything. We were two grown men trying to do our job and I think we respect each other well. … I think they did a good job. It was a long one, and it was fun.”

Deslauriers just played his 50th game this season, but he hasn't scored a goal yet. He has three assists and 77 penalty minutes. Lately, he's been sitting out some games, which is new because he played in all of the Flyers' first 36 games until December 31st.

Similar to any hockey player, he doesn't find pleasure in sitting on the sidelines. However, he acknowledges that the Flyers have exceeded expectations this season, and there may not always be a constant demand for his specific skills.

“It’s a complete different year,” he said. “Yes, we are young and everything, but we’re playing well. We’ve put ourselves in this spot, and no offense, I know at the age I am there’s going to be some nights I’m not in. It’s easy when you win and you have a good group of guys like this. Not lying, it sucks not playing, but at the same time when you have success and the ultimate goal is to push ourselves to make the playoffs — whatever it takes, I’m always ready.”

Earlier in the season, Tortorella expressed the challenge of sidelining Deslauriers, a player widely adored by his teammates. The 33-year-old holds a significant role in the dressing room, a factor the coach identifies as crucial to the team's ahead-of-schedule rebuild.

“He’s a big part of our chemistry,” Tortorella said. “He does what he has to do, how he prepares for a game, what he’s probably going to have to do each and every game. I think the guys respect him. The coaching staff certainly does. It’s a huge part of camaraderie with him.”

The goaltender, Sam Ersson, who secured 22 saves, commented:  “He’s an absolute animal, warrior out there for us. I wouldn’t want to fight him.”

The Flyers lost, it wasn't because they didn't try hard. Travis Konecny, their top scorer, was out with an injury, but they still took more shots than the Rangers (41-24). Tyson Foerster tied the score in the third period, and then Matt Rempe scored his first NHL goal about four minutes later, making it the winning goal. The Rangers, on the other hand, set a new team record with 10 wins in a row.

Nevertheless, in the third period, the Flyers continued to apply pressure. Sean Couturier came close to equalizing with just five seconds remaining but narrowly missed the net with a backhand shot.

“Controlled most of the play,” Laughton said. “Second period a little lull, but honestly we came out hard. We finished hard. Maybe a bounce here or there and it’s a tie game, so guys battled hard for each other tonight. Take a lot of positives out of it. Obviously, you want two points, but we stuck with it and we’ve got a big game (Sunday in Pittsburgh).”

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