All 10 starters were involved in a mass line brawl at the start of the match between arch-rivals New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night.
There's been bad blood between the two NHL teams already this season with Rangers rookie star Rempe being ejected in their previous two meetings.
His elbow on Devils star Jonas Siegenthaler resulted in Rempe being slapped with a four-game suspension.
Kurtis MacDermid called out Rempe after that March 11 clash for declining an invitation to fight Siegenthaler.
All 10 starters were involved in the brawl
TNT
It meant that all eyes were on MacDermid and Rempe once it was confirmed they were going to be starting on the ice for the latest instalment of the Rangers-Devils rivalry on Wednesday.
The Rangers rookie appeared to be paying no attention to the puck drop at the start as he stood tall and faced MacDermid before the buzzer led to a mass brawl on the ice.
While MacDermid and Rempe circled each other before throwing hands at one another, all eight other players on the ice got into it.
Rempe, Jacob Trouba, K'Andre Miller and Barclay Goodrow ended up being ejected for the Rangers while Chris Tierney, John Marino, MacDermid and Kevin Bahl were given the same fate for the Devils.
An old rule in the NHL that states the first players to fight avoid being kicked out of the game, meaning Jimmy Vesey and Curtis Lazar's avoided being asked to leave.
“I had no idea that was going to happen," MacDermid said after the match.
"It was just kind of a spur of the moment thing."
The head coaches of both teams were also seen yelling at each other before play eventually resumed after the brawl had been broken up.
The brawl started as soon as the buzzer went off
TNT
Rangers coach Laviolette stood by his players who were involved in the mass fight.
“Our guys were reacting to what was happening on the ice,” Laviolette said.
“I thought they did a fantastic job. All five of them.”
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But New Jersey's Travis Green insisted he didn't understand where his opposite number's anger had come from.
“I have no idea why Peter was upset. Their guys were lining up fights before the game," Green said.
“You're going to start yelling, you're going to get it back."
