Whoa, there's a lot of bad blood between the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils.
A full-blown line brawl interrupted the start of Wednesday's 4-3 Rangers win, resulting in eight players being ejected from the game: Matt Rempe, Barclay Goodrow, K'Andre Miller, and Jacob Trouba for New York, as well as Kurtis MacDermid, Chris Tierney, Kevin Bahl, and John Marino for the Devils.
Devils & Rangers tallied 5 fights within the first :02 of the game
— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) April 3, 2024
It's the most fights in an NHL game since May 5, 2021 between the Capitals and....the Rangers (6 scraps) pic.twitter.com/AkThGQYHiq
Jimmy Vesey and Curtis Lazar were also involved in the fracas and picked up major penalties on the play, but they were spared the door because their dust-up was considered the first fight of the massive tilt.
Both teams started their fourth lines, highlighted by MacDermid and Rempe.
Animosity has been building between the two players since mid-March, when Rempe was ejected for elbowing Devils rearguard Jonas Siegenthaler in the head. MacDermid attempted to go after Rempe in retaliation for the hit, but officials intervened.
MacDermid then called out Rempe after the game, saying he "lost quite a bit of respect for him" as a result of his actions.
Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette said he didn't expect the spicy start to Wednesday's action.
"Our guys were reacting to what was happening on the ice," he said postgame, per USA Today's Vince Z. Mercogliano. "I thought they did a fantastic job, all five of them."
The players weren't the only ones getting into it. Laviolette and Devils interim bench boss Travis Green were jawing at each other from their respective benches.
Peter Laviolette and Travis Green get into it on the bench pic.twitter.com/ovDqBvFdQH
— Rangers Videos (@SNYRangers) April 3, 2024
"I look over and he's yelling, talking to me," Green said of his shouting match with Laviolette. "I'm more than willing to go and talk to him. I have no idea why Peter was mad, to be honest. ... Their players were lining up fights before the faceoff. ... None of it would have happened if (Rempe and MacDermid fought) the game before.
"They didn't want it to happen that game."
Mere minutes after the opening brawl Wednesday, Rangers rookie Will Cuylle and Devils forward Dawson Mercer also dropped the gloves.
Cuylle and Mercer are now fighting!!! MSG has turned into Roadhouse! 🥊pic.twitter.com/AzLfslZOmI
— New York Post Sports (@nypostsports) April 3, 2024
The teams combined for 162 penalty minutes in the first period alone.
As a result of the ejections, the Rangers and Devils had to heavily rely on four defensemen each:
| Player | Ice time |
|---|---|
| Luke Hughes (NJD) | 32:49 |
| Erik Gustafsson (NYR) | 29:42 |
| Adam Fox (NYR) | 29:39 |
| Brendan Smith (NJD) | 28:20 |
| Braden Schneider (NYR) | 27:36 |
| Ryan Lindgren (NYR) | 27:17 |
| Simon Nemec (NJD) | 26:23 |
| Jonas Siegenthaler (NJD) | 26:08 |
"It's great just to see the team bonding that way and having each other's backs out there after a situation like that," MacDermid said. "The rest of the team picks up a lot of the slack in the minutes. They played hard and played an awesome game tonight. Just didn't get the two points."
The Devils forward added that he had no idea the line brawl would happen, saying it was a "spur of the moment thing."
Just over 12 years ago, a clash between the Devils and Rangers similarly opened in bloody fashion.
Wednesday's clash is the last time the Metropolitan Division rivals will face each other this season.
Rempe has logged just 5:03 of ice time in three career games against the Devils and has been ejected every time.
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