Afull five-on-five brawl erupted just two seconds after the opening puck drop between the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.
Once the fights had broken up, eight players in total – four from each team – were ejected before even playing a single minute.
The main tussle was between Rangers forward Matt Rempe and Devils defenseman Kurtis MacDermid, who continued to fight at center ice after the other players had separated.
When the teams faced each other at Madison Square Garden last month, the 21-year-old Rempe had declined to fight MacDermid early in the game.
“I’m always going to have a lot of respect for him, he’s a young kid just trying to do his thing to stay in the league and I understand that. He’s going to learn and he’s a big, tough, strong kid,” MacDermid told reporters after the game.
He added that he hadn’t anticipated other players from both teams joining in, describing the mass brawl as a “spur of the moment” incident.
