The New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils started Wednesday night’s game with a brawl involving all ten players on the ice in the opening game.
The main event saw Rangers forward Matt Rempe take on New Jersey’s Kurtis MacDermid, with the two having history from the last time the Devils visited Madison Square Garden on March 11. That evening, Rempe declined MacDermid’s offer to fight early in the match. Later in the game, Rempe knocked Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler out of the game with a high elbow and was subsequently suspended for four games.
Rempe and MacDermid fought the longest on Wednesday, with their center-ice battle continuing after the other four fights ended. Four players from each team experienced game misconduct two seconds into the match.
Along with Rempe, New York defensemen Jacob Trouba and K’Andre Miller and forward Barclay Goodrow were ejected from the game. New Jersey defensemen Kevin Bahl and John Marino, and forwards Chris Tierney and MacDermid also received early exits.
Miller fought Marino, Trouba fought Tierney, Goodrow went against Bahl and Rangers forward Jimmy Vesey fought New Jersey’s Curtis Lazar. Vesey and Lazar stayed in the game because they fought first and received no additional penalty.
All ten players also received five-minute fighting penalties.
New York’s Will Cuylle also fought New Jersey’s Dawson Mercer at 4:27 of the first period after Cuylle knocked the Devils’ Brendan Smith into the boards.