John Marino dropped the gloves with K'Andre Miller for his second career NHL fight.

NEW YORK, N.Y. -- New Jersey Devils defenseman John Marino was on the ice for an eventful two seconds on Wednesday.

He lined up for the game's opening face-off, knowing to an extent what was about to happen.

The 18,006 hockey fans in attendance were anticipating a heavyweight tilt between Kurtis MacDermid and Matt Rempe but got more action than expected.

Directly in front of Marino, his teammate Curtis Lazar threw his gloves off and exchanged punches with Jimmy Vesey. Rangers center Barclay Goodrow skated past Chris Tierney to engage with Marino's defensive partner Kevin Bahl, and as expected, MacDermid dropped the gloves to fight New York Rangers' forward Rempe.

The 26-year-old defenseman skated toward center ice and eventually dropped his gloves to take on K'Andre Miller.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qShHba8qwxo[/embed]

Marino, listed on the Devils website as 6-foot-1, 181 pounds, was clearly at a disadvantage over his 6-foot-5, 210-pound opponent.

To no surprise, Miller bested New Jersey's blueliner.

Many questioned why Marino was on the ice to start the game when Brendan Smith was watching from the bench. Interim head coach Travis Green spoke to attending media at Madison Square Garden and said he would have shuffled around the starting lineup had he known each player would be involved after puck drop.

"I don't think you would have saw Johnny Marino on the ice if we were anticipating a five-on-five," Green said.

MacDermid also stated the line brawl was not expected.

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

The brawl marked Marino's second career NHL fight. The North Easton, Massachusetts native previously fought Brady Tkachuk on Jan. 20, 2022, when he was a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3inGVHBO7U[/embed]

After the game, Smith, who scored one of the Devils goals, spoke to the attending media and said he wanted to be part of the opening antics.

"I wanted to be out there," Smith said. "I'm not 100% sure what the thought process was … but it was exciting, the fans enjoyed it. It made for an exciting game."

Marino was one of eight players who were ejected after the line brawl for game misconducts. Without Marino and Bahl's services, the Devils played 59-plus minutes with a defensive core of Smith, Jonas Siegenthaler, Luke Hughes, and Simon Nemec.

It made for an unexpected and entertaining night for fans despite the Devils falling 4-3 in regulation. 

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