Devils’ Travis Green drops truth bomb on shouting match with Rangers’ Peter Laviolette

Travis Green spoke a bit more about the intense game against the Rangers. The Devils head coach acknowledged how emotional the game was. However, he did question whether the five fights at the start of the contest were expected. He went on to recall his clash with Peter Laviolette after those fights.

“As far as Peter and I go, I look over and he’s yelling, talking to me. I’m more than willing to go and talk to him and I have no idea why Peter was mad, to be honest,” the Devils interim bench boss said, via Stein. “We all know why it happened tonight. None of it would have happened had something happened the game before, which was obvious they didn’t want it to happen in that game.”

Green is referring to the hit from Rempe on Siegenthaler. On March 11, Rempe threw a blatant elbow to the head of Siegenthaler. The Devils defenseman left the game with a head injury. He only recently returned to action on April 2nd when New Jersey took on the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Rempe was asked to fight by Devils player Kurtis MacDermid before the hit. However, the Rangers rookie refused each offering from his veteran counterpart. When he was ejected, he taunted MacDermid by waiving to him as he skated to the locker room.

Rangers get last laugh vs Devils

The Rangers and Devils were certainly heated on Wednesday night. However, Travis Green and Peter Laviolette still needed their players to play hockey. And the teams did focus on the game at hand after the fists finished flying. In the end, it was Laviolette and the Blueshirts who came away with the victory.

The Rangers raced out to a 2-0 lead in the very first period. Superstar Artemi Panarin netted his 45th goal of the season to open the scoring. Later, it was Alexis Lafreniere who padded the New York lead. However, the Devils stormed back and took a 3-2 lead by the end of the second period.

In the third, though, New Jersey folded. Kappo Kaako tied the contest a little over five minutes into the period. Later on, the Rangers received a power play opportunity. Forward Chris Kreider took advantage, scoring his 36th goal of the season to give New York the lead for good.

The Rangers are now five points clear of the Carolina Hurricanes atop the Metropolitan Division. New Jersey, though, suffered a blow to their playoff hopes. They are now six points back of the Washington Capitals for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. Washington has two games in hand, as well, giving New Jersey an uphill playoff battle as the regular season comes to a close.