The New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils have opened games already this season with clearly staged fights off the opening faceoff. They decided to one-up that showing on Monday night.
Yes, the opening faceoff coincided with three fights immediately. It was pretty clear what was going to happen when the Rangers began the game with Mike Rupp, Brandon Prust and Stu Bickel as their forward line against Cam Janssen, Eric Boulton and Ryan Carter for the Devils. They didn't disappoint (or completely disappointed, depending on your view).
This is what ensued.
Yes, you'll notice that Carter took a few good shots in there courtesy of Bickel, enough to bloody him up good and delay the game a little longer while they scraped up the blood off the ice which it stained.
I'm still not quite sure what the point of this is. I'm sure the defenders of fighting will let me know. Of course it did pump up the Madison Square Garden faithful on a big night, so there's that.
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