Rangers 4, Devils 3: Fight night

This season's final edition of the Hudson River rivalry predictably featured plenty of bad blood.

Follow along on Twitter @ToddCordell | @InfernalAccess

Be sure to join the Discord channel to talk hockey with our writers and subscribers.

---

A few notes from a rather eventful game between the Devils and Rangers:

Fight night!

I expected last night’s game to be very physical and feature altercations outside of just Kurtis MacDermid vs. Matt Rempe.

Whether it was trying to settle the score with Jacob Trouba – who takes 13 open ice runs per game against the Devils – or the likes of Kevin Bahl and Brendan Smith asserting themselves against anyone they could in a high-emotion game, I definitely expected fireworks.

I did not expect six fights and 33% of the active roster squaring off with a Rangers player. It was fun to see, though.

The Devils let the Rangers push them around the last couple of meetings. There wasn’t a ton of pushback while Rempe, Trouba, and others took liberties with Devils every chance they had.

At some point, you have to stand up to them and the Devils did a good job of that in this one.

Realistically speaking, the Devils have absolutely nothing to play for. Their playoff chances are non-existent, they’re missing key players, and they have others playing through injury. Heck, even their coach is probably a lame duck. It’s unlikely that ‘mastering a new system’ can even be used as a sell because there will almost certainly be a new head coach.

All the team has to play for is pride. With nothing to lose, it was great to see caution thrown to the wind and the Devils make it a priority to show some fight.

One thing that was kind of dumb, though, was not icing an opening lineup full of gritty players just in case things went completely haywire on the opening shift.

Do we need John Marino, who weighs 180 pounds on a good day, throwing down with someone four or five inches taller and 30+ pounds heavier? Probably not. I would have started Brendan Smith just in case.

All in all, though, it was a few minutes of fun against a rival in a season that has largely felt like torture. We take it.

Heading south