Devils, Rangers assessed 164 PIM, 8 ejections after first-period line brawl

New York Rangers’ winger Alexis Lafreniere may have scored twice in the first period of his team’s Wednesday tilt with the New Jersey Devils, but eight ejections, 164 penalty minutes, and six fights buried him in the headlines.

Officials did not eject Curtis Lazar of the Devils and Jimmy Vesey of the Rangers, the first men into the fray, but tossed everyone else but the goaltenders; New Jersey will be without Kevin Bahl, Kurtis MacDermid, John Marino, and Chris Tierney for the rest of the game, while the Blueshirts lost Barclay Goodrow, K’Andre Miller, Matt Rempe, and captain Jacob Trouba for their part in the line brawl.

The referees’ no-nonsense response to the melee was likely due to the bad blood between the contestants of its de facto main event, Rempe and MacDermid. When the teams last played on March 11, Rempe rebuffed repeated attempts from MacDermid to goad him into a fight.

When Rempe later caught Devil Jonas Siegenthaler with an elbow that earned him a 4-game suspension, MacDermid became angrier still at his refusal to fight, remarking that he should have answered for the check. 

This time, the towering rookie had no such reservations; the two brawled for over a minute. Remarkably, the ejection was Rempe’s third in three career appearances against New Jersey.

Five minutes later, Devils forward Dawson Mercer took issue with a hit on teammate Brendan Smith and dropped the gloves with Will Cuylle to bring the fight card to six. 

Midway though the second frame the Devils, effectively out of the postseason equation and playing for little more than pride, lead a Rangers team that has eyes for the Presidents’ Trophy and perhaps the Stanley Cup 3-2.