Watch: Rangers Matt Rempe and Devils' Kurtis MacDermid trade heavy blows, leading to both players' ejection in a wild brawl

The rivalry between the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils on Wednesday erupted into an all-out brawl between 10 players right from the opening faceoff, featuring forward Matt Rempe against Kurtis MacDermid.

Their feud originated a few weeks ago when Rempe knocked New Jersey defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler out of a previous matchup on Mar. 11. Rempe and MacDermid traded punches for over a minute after the other fights had ended, with both eventually getting ejected from the game.

Watch the video here:

Despite their heated brawl, Kurtis MacDermid said postgame that he has respect for Matt Rempe. MacDermid's change of tune comes weeks after he said that he had "lost a lot of respect" for Rempe following a controversial hit last month.

Along with Matt Rempe, three other Rangers were ejected: defensemen Jacob Trouba, K'Andre Miller and forward Barclay Goodrow. For the Devils, defensemen Kevin Bahl and John Marino joined MacDermid and forward Chris Tierney in getting out.

Other bouts included Miller versus Marino, Trouba against Tierney, Goodrow fighting Bahl, and the Rangers' Jimmy Vesey battling the Devils' Curtis Lazar, the only two players avoided ejections.

Overall, 10 players were issued major five-minute penalties for fighting.

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Matt Rempe's Rangers win 4-3 against the Devils

Artemi Panarin opened the scoring for New York at 9:22 of the first period on a blistering one-timer set up by Alexis Lafreniere. Lafreniere doubled the Rangers' lead late on for his 18th goal.

Despite the early 2-0 deficit, the Devils rallied to tie it up in the second period, thanks to goals by Ondrej Palat and Brendan Smith. Nico Hischier gave New Jersey a brief 3-2 lead after two periods by blasting home a one-timer halfway through the second off a feed from Jesper Bratt.

In the third period, Kaapo Kakko drew the Rangers even at 3-3 by pouncing on a Luke Hughes turnover. Chris Kreider netted what held up as the game-winner at 15:03 of the third, deflecting in an Adam Fox point shot after a zone entry by Panarin.

Igor Shesterkin made 17 saves, while Devils netminder Kaapo Kahkonen stopped 37 shots in the defeat. The victory kept the Rangers (51-21-4) in first place in the Metropolitan Division race, with 106 points.