Fighting is truly back in the NHL, and fans are absolutely loving it.
The Hudson River Rivalry was in full display on Wednesday, as all ten Rangers and Devils players dropped the gloves in a full-line brawl to start the game.
Players started fighting with just two seconds on the clock, leading to eight players getting tossed from the game. The video sequence of the line brawl quickly made the rounds on social media, and everyone loved it.
Line brawls are simply incredible, and when they happen right at the beginning of a game, it’s even better.
But the person who loved it the most was in the center of it all. Matt Rempe has been a sensation during his rookie season with the Rangers, participating in fights in every other game and delivering massive hits.
Rempe has found himself in controversial moments in both the Rangers’ meeting with the Devils this season, and on Wednesday, everything came to a head.
Rempe and MacDermid fought the longest of everyone on the ice, and there was no doubt that Rempe enjoyed the show.
“That was a banger,” Rempe told USA Today. “That wasn’t planned or anything, it just kind of happened. I think it was kind of special that they did it as well, I knew that I was going to have to fight, but for them to go to war with me was pretty dang special.”
Rempe and MacDermid expressed respect for each other postgame, much unlike earlier this season when Rempe had refused to fight MacDermid after a nasty elbow on Jonas Siegenthaler.
“He was a real tough customer,” Rempe said. “That guy is a big boy and he’s strong. He’s been one of the toughest guys in the league for a long time and he has a job to do, you’ve gotta respect that.”
If there was any doubt about how much Rempe enjoyed the showdown on Wednesday, just take a look at his latest Instagram post.
Rempe uploaded several pictures in the post, and one of them went viral after being shared on social media by fans—not because of what the picture showed but because of a detail that Rempe had added.
In the picture, showing all the fights going on simultaneously on the ice, Rempe decided to tag all of his teammates on the ice, everyone busy with their own fight. One fan posted a screenshot of Rempe’s post and said, ’The tags make this picture even better.’
The post went viral, and everyone absolutely loved how funny it looked with the perfectly placed tags.
”He must be protected at all costs,” one said.
”Iconic of him honestly,” another said.
”The fellas,” a third said.
”He was so thorough,” a fourth said.
