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Bloody Matt Rempe of the New York Rangers
The New York Rangers hosted the New Jersey Devils to play a National League Hockey game on Wednesday, April 3. That is, at least, what the NHL record books will say happened that day.
What went down inside the walls of Madison Square Garden, however, will always be considered a true old-time hockey game if only because just two seconds into the affair there was a 10-man, WrestleMania-style brawl between both squads.
The Rangers won 4-3 and inched closer to claiming the fourth Presidents’ Trophy in franchise history and the first one since they led the NHL standings in 2015.
The Devils, on the other hand, lost the brawl, the matchup, and most probably their chance at clinching a postseason berth by the end of the regular season.
According to SportsNet, the brawl yielded 162 penalty minutes once the dust settled, which are “the most combined PIMs in the since January 18, 2014.”
That’s more than 10 years ago when the Calgary Flames and the Vancouver Canucks had a fight between themselves that amounted to a staggering 188 PIM.
This was also the fastest fight at Madison Square Garden, per TNT’s game announcers.
The line brawl resulted in game misconduct penalties for Matt Rempe, Barclay Goodrow, K’Andre Miller, and Jacob Trouba on the Rangers side, and Kurtis MacDermid, Kevin Bahl, John Marino, and Chris Tierney for New Jersey.
The Hockey World Reacts to the Greatest Brawl in 10 Years
Rangers rookie Rempe was likely going to fight tonight given his brief past with the Devils, but such a full-scale brawl was something hardly anybody was expecting.
The reaction from former NHL players to active ones, reporters, and fans was a joy to watch.
Senior NHL.com writer Dan Rosen offered a few interesting statistics about the first period of the game, including the brawl.
According to Rosen’s research, there were 12 fight majors (only 10 players were involved in the initial fight, mind you), as well as 8 game misconducts, one 10-minute misconduct, and a whopping 27 penalties through the first 20 minutes of play.
Things got really hot on the ice, but they did too on the benches of both sides. Devils coach Travis Green and Rangers coach Peter Laviolette exchanged a few words from their respective booths.
“I look over and [Laviolette] is yelling, talking to me,” Green said after the game, per Devils reporter Amanda Stein. “I have no idea why Peter was mad, to be honest.”
“Our guys were reacting to what was happening on the ice,” coach Laviolette said postgame, per New York Post reporter Mollie Walker. “I thought they did a fantastic job, all five of them.”
The Fourth Period’s Editor-In-Chief and NHL Network analyst David Pagnotta called the start of Tuesday’s game “Mortal Combat” while referencing the 130 PIM.
National hockey writer Shayna Goldman of The Athletic shared a message about the game including a meme reading “No soap operas, just hockey,” while calling this season “the most dramatic yet.”
ESPN’s NHL analyst Greg Wyshynski chimed in, writing about the Battle of the Hudson that went down at MSG. “Devils could be 30 points behind the Rangers after tonight but Battle of [the] Hudson rah rah go team punchy hurty,” he posted.
One Washington Capitals fan brought back the brawl between the Caps and the Rangers from 2021, comparing it to Tuesday’s furious fight on X.
With WrestleMania 40 right around the corner and scheduled for Sunday, April 7 one fan was clever in dropping a clip showing a massive WWE brawl involving many fighters and captioning it as “Rangers vs. Devils right now.”
Of course, with this being a Rangers vs. Devils matchup, folks didn’t forget about mentioning the rivalry between both franchises. “Are people still pretending Devils Rangers isn’t the best rivalry in hockey,” a user questioned on X.
NHL Network reporter Anna Dua shared a simple but pinpoint-accurate description of the beginning of the game, calling it “the most insane start to an NHL game I have ever witnessed.”
Former & Current NHL Players React and Explain the Massive Brawl
The Rangers didn’t make any player involved in the brawl available postgame, so there are no comments from them available at the time of this writing.
That being said, a few players involved spoke after the game on April 3, making statements about what happened on the ice.
“I’ve never seen that, I don’t know if that’s ever happened,” Rangers forward Chris Kreider told reporters in his postgame press conference. “To have 80 percent (eight of the 10 men involved in the initial brawl) of them then be shown the gate, it’s just a weird dynamic.”
“We’re not trying to make a mockery out there,” Rangers defenseman Adam Fox added. “It’s just guys having each others’ backs.”
The Devils didn’t apply any restrictions to their players’ availability, and that allowed reporters to hear MaDermid’s version of the brawl.
“I had no idea that was going to happen,” MacDermid told reporters as documented by Heavy’s Emma Lingan. “It was a spur-of-the-moment thing.”
“It was great to see the team responding that way and having each other’s backs out there,” MacDermid added. “l have a lot of respect for [Rempe]. He’s a young kid trying to do his thing. I understand that.”
Devils defenseman Brendan Smith told reporters after the game, “The fans got what they wanted out of that. Good atmosphere, it’s a good game.
“It gets the blood boiling, the fans enjoy it. I think everybody got their dollar’s worth. And it’s an expensive building.”
Former Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist had a great time watching the fight between his franchise and the Devils.
Finally, former NHL defenseman P.K. Subban quickly posted a message on X including a clip of the fight and commenting, “ITS A BRAWL FOR IT ALL!!!!!” adding, “Fighting in hockey is the best entertainment in sports! PERIOD!!!”
Antonio Losada covers the NHL for Heavy.com. A veteran sports writer based in Spain, Antonio has covered the NBA, NFL and soccer for over 10 years, with bylines at SB Nation, FanSided, Yahoo Sports, FanGraphs, RotoBaller and more. He has also been nominated for multiple FSWA awards, including Fantasy Football Writer of the Year and DFS Writer of the Year. More about Antonio Losada
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