This built up over the course of the season.
With Rangers face puncher Matt Lempe on one side and Devils enforcer Curtis McDiarmid on the other, the fourth line was deployed to begin the third and final matchup of the season, and it was 5-on-5 from the start. A line brawl ensued. A faceoff in chaotic scenes at center ice at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.
Lempe faced McDiarmid, who had been ejected in each of their previous two encounters (one followed by a four-game suspension) after taking hits that knocked Devils players out for extended periods of time.
Quandre Miller faced off against John Marino.
Jimmy Vesey fought Curtis Lazar.
Barclay Goodrow dropped the gloves with Kevin Bahr.
Captain Jacob Trouba took on it with Chris Tierney.
Vesey and Lazar were the first to take off their gloves, causing everyone else to suffer in-game cheating in secondary combat.
The Rangers lost Miller, Trouba, Rempe and Goodrow, while the Devils lost McDiarmid, Marino, Barr and Tierney.
Then Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette and Devils interim coach Travis Green started jawing at each other from their respective benches.
In three games with the Devils this season, Lempe finished with 47 penalties, two fouls, and three fouls in 5 minutes, 03 seconds of ice time.
