Devils Drop Emotional Affair to Rangers, 4-3 | GAME STORY

NEW YORK, NY - It was anything but a regular night of hockey between the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers. It wasn't even just a regular heated rivalry night between the two clubs. The rivalry hit a new boiling point just two seconds into the game.

An all-out line brawl broke out to start the game as the build-up from the Matt Rempe hits on both Nathan Bastian and Jonas Siegenthaler hit a breaking point. 

It was a surprise to most that the line brawl broke out and while players and coaches were happy to see their teammates stick up for one another. As players prepared for the opening faceoff, interim head coach Travis Green could start to see what was about to occur and as the penalties were being delt with by the referees, Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette began to jaw at Green from the opposing bench. 

"Their players were lining up fights before the faceoff and none of this would have happened, which we all know why it did happen tonight, none of it would have happened if something happened the game before which was obvious that they didn’t want it to happen that game. I have no idea why Peter would have been upset and again, that’s not on me why he’s upset.”

With two seconds ticked off the clock, it was time to play the actual game.

It was a game of emotions and emotional swings were handled better at times than others.

New Jersey, undermanned having not only lost four players to game misconducts but Dawson Mercer also being handed 17 minutes in penalties, were down 2-0 after 20 minutes of play, but kept plugging away.

Jack Hughes set up Ondrej Palat with a beautiful no-look pass which Palat one-timed past Rangers netminder Igor Shesterkin to cut the Rangers lead to 2-1. Palat's goal was followed up by Brendan Smith's fourth of the season, capitalizing on a feed from below the goal line from Jesper Bratt for the game-tying goal and Bratt set up captain Nico Hischier with another high-light reel feed for the Devils third goal at 11:24 of the second period.

As the third period took shape, the Rangers made their own push, scoring first the 3-3 tying goal at 5:32, when Kakko Kaapo took advantage of Luke Hughes' stick snapping in half and had an extra step on the Devils defenseman down the ice, beating Kaapo Kahkonen with a wrist shot, before Chris Kreider's power play goal at 15:03 served as the game winner for New York.

The Devils have now lost three straight and prepare next for another set of back-to-back games beginning in Ottawa on Saturday night.

Here are some observations from the game:

• It took exactly two seconds for the boiling point to hit. Off the opening faceoff, all 10 players squared off in five simultaneous fights, with Kurtis MacDermid and Matt Rempe the top billing. The fight between MacDermid and Rempe was expected, with Rempe having injured both Nathan Bastian and Jonas Siegenthaler with hits this season. 

The entire affair produced 80 penalty minutes and resulted in eight players, four from each team, being thrown out for the remainder of the game. 

Kevin Bahl, John Marino, Chris Tierney and Kurtis MacDermid were all thrown out of the game for New Jersey, while Rempe, K’Andre Miller, Barclay Goodrow and Jacob Trouba were all thrown out on the Rangers side.

“I didn’t see that coming," MacDermid said after the game. "It’s great to see just the team bonding that way and having eachothers back out there. After a situation like that, the rest of the team picks up a lot of the slack in the minutes and they played hard. They played an awesome game tonight, just didn’t get the two points,”

Curtis Lazar, who engaged first in a fight with Jimmy Vesey was handed a fighting major, as was Vesey. 

• The tension continued through the first period and boiled over a second time when Dawson Mercer was handed an instigator misconduct. Mercer jumped to the defense of his teammate Brendan Smith who was boarded into the end-boards by Will Cuylle. 

“He’s the man, he’s the man,” Smith said of Mercer's responce, “I think, he stepped right in there, didn’t shy away from anything, just protecting your teammates. I think it says a lot abotu him and his character and just the team in here. I’m proud of him.”

• Timo Meier continues to pick up right where he left off the month of March. Meier picked up the secondary assist on Brendan Smith's tying goal at 9:53 of the second period. After locking down 20 points in March, Meier adds another two in the first two games of April. 

Jesper Bratt logged the primary assist, his 50th assist of the season, setting a new career high. 

• Bratt, known not only for his playmaking and goal scoring, but also his brilliant skating put it all on display on the Devils go-ahead goal in the second period. Bratt, below the goal line and the puck on his stick, executes some brilliant edgework on his skates to cut back up the ice away from Adam Fox, who had kept Bratt wide. Creating his own space, Bratt found his captain Nico Hischier through the middle of the ice for the 3-2 goal. 

• Although Tierney played just two seconds before being thrown out of the game he did win the game's opening faceoff going 1-for-1.