The New Jersey Devils lost Chris Tierney and Kurtis MacDermid up front and Kevin Bahl and John Marino on the backend after an unexpected line brawl to start the game.

It was undeniable.

On a rainy and windy night in New York City, the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers met at center ice inside Madison Square Garden, the world's most famous arena.

On one side of the ice was 6-foot-5, 233-pound Kurtis MacDermid, and on the other was 6-foot-7, 241-pound Matt Rempe.

The referee dropped the puck to signal the start of the game, and as fast as it hit the ice between Chris Tierney and Barclay Goodrow, the gloves went flying. However, it was not the two players the fans were expecting.

Curtis Lazar and Jimmy Vesey were the first fight to occur quickly, followed by Kevin Bahl fighting Goodrow. MacDermid and Rempe eventually started throwing punches while Tierney partnered with Jacob Trouba and John Marino with K'Andre Miller.

It was a full-out brawl in front of 18,006 fans.

"I had no idea that was going to happen," MacDermid said of the line brawl. "It was kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing."

At the bench, players on both teams stood and watched while Devils interim head coach Travis Green and Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette exchanged words.

"Their players were lining up fights before the faceoff, and none of this would have happened, which we all know why it did happen tonight, none of it would have happened if something happened the game before, which was obvious that they didn't want it to happen that game," Green said. "I have no idea why Peter would have been upset, and again, that's not on me why he's upset."

Since Lazar and Vesey were the first players to drop the gloves, the two players only received fighting majors. Unfortunately, the other eight were handed game misconduct and ejected from the game.

The Devils lost Tierney and MacDermid up front and Bahl and Marino on the backend, leaving New Jersey with only Brendan Smith, Jonas Siegenthaler, and rookies Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec on the blue line.

Hughes led all skaters and played 32:49. Per Devils PR, "he set a franchise record for time on ice (TOI) that a rookie skater logged in a single game at 32:49. The prior record for a rookie skater for TOI in a single game belonged to Johnny Oduya, who logged 31:02 TOI on Jan. 2, 2007, against the Rangers."

Smith (28:20 TOI) and Nemec (26:23 TOI) both logged a new career-high for TOI in a single game. Additionally, Siegenthaler tied a career-high seven hits in one game.

New Jersey eventually fell by a final score of 4-3. They scored three second-period goals from Ondrej Palat, Brendan Smith, and Nico Hischier. Jesper Bratt earned two assists, and goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen made 37 saves on 41 shots.