Sport

Epic ice hockey brawl erupts two seconds into NHL game

Epic ice hockey brawl erupts two seconds into NHL game
GOTTA SEE IT: Rangers And Devils Engage In A Line Brawl Moments After Puck Drop

A 10-man brawl in a NHL match between New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils erupted after just two seconds of the match, with eight players then being ejected from the game.

Rangers hosted Devils at Madison Square Garden on April 3.

The referee had barely dropped the puck at the opening face-off before chaos erupted.

Rangers' Matt Rempe has had a bit of history with Devils - he was ejected from a game on March 11 for elbowing Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler and was banned for four matches.

Before that, on February 22, Rempe threw a borderline hit to Nathan Bastian which disgruntled forward Kurtis MacDermid.

And Rempe and MacDermaid were involved in the wild sequence of events this time around.

They both started the game on opposing sides and within two seconds immediately went at it - gloves off and fists swinging.

But it wasn't just those two - all 10 starters dropped their gloves to fight in one-on-one brawls too.

The four referees then set about breaking up the fights; Rempe and MacDermaid's fight went on the longest, for around 80 seconds, with Rempe appearing to be hit more than MacDermaid before then hyping up the crowd.

But it was deemed the fight between Rangers forward Jimmy Vesey and Devils forward Curtis Lazar started first - NHL rules state 'a game misconduct penalty shall be imposed on any player who is assessed a major penalty for fighting after the original altercation has started'.

So all other eight players, including Rempe and MacDermaid, were ejected from the game - the coaches exchanged verbals shortly afterwards too.

Rangers went on to win the match 4-3.

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