The Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Rangers played a playoff-style game in the NHL at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.
Dropping gloves was a common sight for fans to cheer for at the arena during the game, which was packed with physical intensity from both sides. Furthermore, the game featured four fights, with several hard hits landed by both sides on the night.
During the first period, there was a fistfight between heavyweights Patrick Maroon and Ben Harpur.
Watch the altercation between the players below:
During the final minutes of the second period of the Tampa Bay Lightning vs New York Rangers game, Rangers defenseman Braden Schneider shoulder-checked and hit Lightning forward Nick Paul, prompting Bolt's forward Ross Colton to fight Schneider.
Watch the fight below:
Soon after, Lightning's Corey Perry and Rangers' Vincent Trocheck exchanged punches in the second period. The altercation between them marked the continuation of the high-intensity matchup between the two players.
However, this was not the final battle between the two teams. Yet another massive brawl broke out between the two teams in the second period of the Tampa Bay Lightnning vs New York Rangers game. After TB Lightning scored on a rebound, forward Alex Killorn triggered a fight by hitting New York Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin, prompting many players to engage in the brawl.
The high-intensity physical battle between the two teams even resulted in a couple of injuries. Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba and Bolts forward Anthony Cirelli were injured in the aftermath and are currently listed as day-to-day.
New York Rangers down Tampa Bay Lightning 6-3
The Rangers (46-21-11) hosted the Lightning (45-27-6) at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.
Rangers started the game in dominant fashion as Chris Kreider, Kaapo Kakko and Tyler Motte put the team 3-0 up in just less than eleven minutes of the first period. Alex Killorn scored the opening goal for the Lightning to end the scoreline at 3-1 before heading into the second period of the NHL game.
Darren Raddysh trimmed the Rangers' lead to 3-2 after scoring at 7:10 minutes of the second period. However, just fifteen seconds later Tyler Motte scored the fourth goal for the Rangers. Brandon Hagel scored the third goal for the Lightning at 11:34 minutes of the second period to make the scoreline 4-3 before the game moved into the third period of the Tampa Bay Lightning vs New York Rangers game.
Chris Kreider and Artemi Panarin each scored a goal in the third period to propel the Rangers to a 6-3 victory in the end. Mika Zibanejad had three assists while Adam Fox, Barclay Goodrow, Chris Kreider, and Tyler Motte all had two points on the night.