The Rangers’ Rempe was suspended eight games for a hit on Dallas’ Heiskanen

The NHL put Matt on the mat.

The league has suspended Rangers forward Matt Rempe for eight games without pay for elbowing and tackling Dallas defenseman Miro Heiskanen on Friday night. The announcement came after the Rangers’ 3-1 loss to Carolina on Sunday.

Rempe, 22, who met with the league’s player safety department over Zoom on Sunday, will forfeit $80,000 in game checks. The ministry described Rempe as a “repeat offender” in a video statement. He was suspended four games last season for hitting Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler.

The statement also said the hit “violated multiple NHL rules” and “Rempe explodes into a hard check into the back of a defenseless Heiskanen, while simultaneously extending his elbow and forearm up and into the neck of Heiskanen and Heiskanen dangerously drives into the boards and the glass.”

The 6-9, 255-pound Rempe, recalled from AHL Hartford on Wednesday after Kaapo Kakko was traded to Seattle, drove Heiskanen face-first into the boards with 12:47 left in the third period on Friday night. He was charged with a game misconduct.

The goal overshadowed a strong game from Rempe, who took second-period penalties from Mason Marchment (tripping), former Ranger Nils Lundkvist (hooking) and Lian Bichsel (slashing) and scored five goals in 5:32.

“He had a big impact on the game,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said Friday. “We would like to stay away from the five-minute major, but he is doing his best to hit bodies and make a difference in the game.”

Rempe has recorded 24 penalty minutes in five games this season. He has amassed a total of 95 penalty minutes over the course of his 22-game NHL career.

Sunday was the first of eight games Rempe will miss. Unless an appeal is filed before Monday’s road game against the Devils, he will miss his second straight game.