TARRYTOWN, N.Y. — There’s always a game in the game.
On Wednesday there was a match in the fight for the Rangers.
Jacob Trouba, Barclay Goodrow, K’Andre Miller and Matt Rempe were all ejected from Wednesday’s game two seconds later as part of the five-on-five brawl that followed the opening faceoff against the Devils. Rempe knew he was going to face Kurtis MacDermid, but no one else seemed to know what was coming next, although there were hints in the Rangers room after Thursday’s optional practice – a skate just for scratches healthy, goaltenders and the aforementioned two-second brigade — that the guys on the ice weren’t going to allow Rempe to go it alone at the Garden.
“A little bit,” Goodrow said if he knew what would happen after the puck dropped. “It wasn’t really planned or anything; It just happened. It’s just about supporting each other. Remps has been doing this for us since he’s been here, so it was time for us to step up. Rivalry game, MSG – there’s nothing better than an online brawl to start.
Jimmy Vesey – “the lucky one,” as Trouba called him – was able to stay in the match, the only fighter to do so due to NHL Rule 46.7, which states that a fight that begins after If a fight is already in progress, it automatically results in a game misconduct. No one seemed to know that was the case until the referees informed the two packed penalty boxes that four players from each team had finished after just two seconds.
“We were all laughing in the club, like, ‘What happened?’ and then the refs come and say, ‘You’re done,'” Miller said.
GO FURTHER
Rangers-Devils game opens with 5-on-5 brawl
Here are some more details about how it went for each of the four, from their feelings on the ice during fights, to how they clashed with a Devils dance partner and what you do when you’re launched two seconds later.
“We won’t be the only ones not to fight”
Trouba has had plenty of struggles in his career and had to answer big hits like the Devils wanted Rempe to do on Wednesday, so watching the anticipation before the puck dropped wasn’t that different.
Once Vesey dropped the gloves with Curtis Lazar, things were a little different. There have certainly been a few line brawls over the years where all three forwards on each team drop the gloves — the Rangers had one with Peter Laviolette’s Caps three years ago — but when the defensemen intervene, it This is a new wrinkle.
“There’s two guys left, Key starts fighting and it’s like we’re not going to be the only ones not fighting,” said Trouba, who faced Chris Tierney, a fellow center who had not never fought before in the NHL. “He’s probably not the guy I should be looking for, but those are the two guys that were left.”
Trouba saw it all through the same lens as Peter Laviolette and Goodrow: the Rangers are playoff safe, in contention for the President’s Trophy and there’s never a bad time to bond, even after five fights.
“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t somewhat of a team-building exercise,” Trouba said. “Some of these things can bring a team together. I don’t think energy has really been an issue for us this year. We’re still moving forward, the guys are having fun, a nice comeback in the third period last night and the guys are feeling good.
There’s also the question of what an NHL player does when he’s ejected before even breaking a sweat.
“We had to practice because we didn’t play,” Trouba said. “So we were in the gym for most of the first half and then just kind of in the locker room. Rempe was running around, just seeing guys after their period.
“It’s a long year.”
Goodrow was in a dilemma after the draw. He went after Tierney, who he created through the Sharks organization a decade ago. Goodrow knew Tierney had never fought in the NHL before and didn’t want it to be his friend’s first fight, especially in a charged atmosphere like that.
So, as Vesey and Lazar cried and Rempe and MacDermid sized each other up, Goodrow walked around his friend and dropped the gloves with 6-foot-6 defenseman Kevin Bahl. Of course, that left Tierney to face Trouba. “I don’t think he made a lot of shots,” Goodrow said.
Goodrow felt it was the perfect shock for the Rangers, even though he didn’t realize four of them would be eliminated. “I thought if we all dropped the gloves at the same time, I didn’t think we’d get kicked out,” he said. “But it’s a long year. There are six, seven games left. It’s nice to have an extra boost. It happened pretty organically, but I’m glad it did.
“I guess he found out.”
Miller told reporters this was his first NHL fight. Goodrow, sitting nearby, interjected.
“Was that your first?”
“Yeah,” Miller said.
“Fright.”
Miller may have been more present on social media than Rempe on Wednesday. John Marino isn’t much of a fighter either, but the Devils defenseman moved toward Miller to engage during the rest of the fights. “I was watching the fireworks,” Miller said. “I saw (Marino) coming to our side of the ice, he looked at me, gave me a nod and I was like, ‘Why not?’
“I thought it would be a bad idea. But I guess he found out.
Miller went viral after landing some big blows and giving Marino the “too short” gesture as the linesmen separated them. “Did you see this online? ” he said. “I saw it too.”
K’Andre Miller really hit John Marino with the “too small” chirp after their opening faceoff 😮💨
(via @cas14och/t @FitzGSN_) pic.twitter.com/rGtw2Hsv0I
– B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 4, 2024
Miller then informed us that he was mixing in some boxing classes into his off-season training. Marino might have chosen another partner if he knew.
“Pretty special”
Rempe didn’t have to guess much about what was going to happen. The Devils placed MacDermid in their starting five, so Laviolette put Rempe on the field to start.
“MacDermid was saying, ‘We’re going now.’ “I mean, yeah, I know,” Rempe said. “I think there’s a reason we’re starting this.”
But the rest of the Rangers on the ice, dropping the gloves, was a new thing for the 21-year-old rookie. He was the one who fought long and waved to the Garden crowd as he skated off the ice with a bloodied mouth, but for the first time in his brief pugilistic tenure with the Rangers, he wasn’t alone.
“These guys are my brothers. We’re all going to war together, in a way,” he said. “I think it was really special that they did that. I knew I was going to have to fight, it doesn’t matter, I have to answer. But for them, going to war with me is really special, a pretty cool experience.
Rempe was indeed full of energy in the locker room after the ejections. “Doing back flips,” he said with a smile. “With all these guys, just seeing the comments on social media, they were so funny, I was reading some to the guys, they were just laughing. It was just cool.
And he gave his assessment of his teammates’ fighting abilities after watching the highlights in the room.
“Hit hit (Marino) with the ‘too short’ thing!” said Rempé. “They were great.”
The fights and their aftermath could have had a different flavor if the Rangers had not won 4-3 with two goals in the third period. The Devils are almost eliminated from the playoffs, so even a Rangers loss would have been easily ruled out. But they can look back on the fight and see it in a better light after winning with 14 very tired skaters.
“The team defends and fights for each other, and then you fight back in the game to make sure it’s not in vain,” Laviolette said. “I think we’re pretty good anyway, but it’s been nice to see it continue to develop and grow.”
(Photo by K’Andre Miller and John Marino: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)