Wednesday's hockey: Devils-Rangers start with 10-player brawl; Berggren nets hat trick

New York — The New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils started Wednesday night’s game with a brawl involving all 10 players on the ice off the opening faceoff.

The main event was Rangers forward Matt Rempe taking on New Jersey’s Kurtis MacDermid, with the two having history from the previous time the Devils visited Madison Square Garden on March 11. That night, Kempe refused MacDermid’s offer to fight early in the game.

Later in the contest, Rempe knocked Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler out of the game with a high elbow and was subsequently suspended for four games.

Rempe and MacDermid fought the longest on Wednesday as their tussle continued at center ice after the other four fights had ended. Four players from each team received game misconducts 2 seconds into the game.

Along with Rempe, New York defensemen Jacob Trouba (Michigan) and K'Andre Miller and forward Barclay Goodrow were ejected from the game. New Jersey defensemen Kevin Bahl and John Marino, and forwards Chris Tierney and MacDermid also received early exits.

Miller fought Marino, Trouba battled Tierney, Goodrow went against Bahl and Rangers forward Jimmy Vesey fought New Jersey's Curtis Lazar. Vesey and Lazar remained in the game since they fought first and didn't receive additional punishment.

All 10 players also received five-minute fighting penalties.

New York's Will Cuylle also fought New Jersey's Dawson Mercer at the 4:27 mark of the first period after Cuylle hit the Devils' Brendan Smith into the boards.

The Rangers won, 4-3, on Chris Kreider's power-play goal late in the third period.

Wednesday's NHL games

Tampa Bay 4, (at) Toronto 1: Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves despite Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews adding to his NHL lead with the sniper’s 63rd goal of the season.

Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman, Brayden Point and Nicholas Paul scored for Tampa.

Nikita Kucherov, who entered the night tied with Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon for the league lead with 127 points, added three assists.

Brandon Hagel also set up two goals for the Lightning, who moved within four points of the Leafs for third in the Atlantic Division.

(At) L.A. Kings 5, Seattle 2: Trevor Moore scored three goals in his second career hat trick, and Los Angeles snapped their three-game skid while eliminating Seattle from the Stanley Cup playoff race with a victory over the Kraken.

Adrian Kempe and Kevin Fiala also scored and Cam Talbot made 21 saves for the Kings, who pulled within one point of Nashville for the top wild-card spot in the Western Conference by ending their longest losing streak since the 1-6-4 midseason skid that cost coach Todd McLellan his job.

The Kings took control with two goals in just over four minutes of the second period by Moore, who then secured his first hat trick since November 2022 on a slick breakaway with 3:03 to play.

(At) Dallas 5, Edmonton 0: Jake Oettinger stopped 35 shots for his second consecutive shutout, Radek Faska scored early and assisted on two of the four Dallas goals in a less than 7-minute span of the second period, and Dallas beat Edmonton to set a franchise record with their eighth win in a row.

The winning streak, which included their four previous games on the road, has put the Stars atop the Western Conference standings with 105 points. They are only one point behind the New York Rangers for the most in the NHL with six games remaining for both teams.

Wyatt Johnston and Sam Steele each also had a goal and an assist for Dallas, which six times previously had seven-game winning streaks they weren’t able to extend. Tyler Seguin added a power play goal and captain Jamie Benn scored his 19th goal for a group that already has seven 20-goal scorers.

Vancouver 2, (at) Arizona 1: Conor Garland scored the tiebreaking goal with 1:51 remaining and Vancouver beat Arizona.

Garland grabbed the rebound of Quinn Hughes’ missed shot and fired it past Connor Ingram to give the Canucks a seven-point lead in the Pacific Division with six games remaining.

Hughes scored on the power play midway through the second period and rookie Arturs Silvos had 22 saves for Vancouver.

Silvos, in just his second game of the season and eighth of his career, didn’t have much work in the first two periods as Arizona only managed eight shots. He was called up last month to replace No. 1 goalie Thatcher Demko, who has been sidelined since March 9 with a lower-body injury but is expected back as soon as next week.

Grand Rapids 5, Chicago 4

Jonatan Berggren's four-point night helped lead the Grand Rapids Griffins to a 5-4 comeback victory against the Chicago Wolves on Wednesday at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids.

Berggren recorded his first AHL hat trick, Sebastian Cossa extended his record-breaking point streak to 18 games (12-0-6) and the Griffins' home point streak is also at 18 games (13-0-3-2).

Women's world hockey preview

Fond as Hilary Knight is of the fierce women’s hockey rivalry between the United States and Canada, the 34-year-old has watched her sport’s international growth enough to realize the decades-long era of North American dominance might finally be coming to close.

Whether that happens at this year’s 10-nation world championship, which opened on Wednesday with the U.S. blanking Switzerland, 4-0, in Utica, New York, or at the 2026 Winter Olympics, the American captain said she can envision a time when the Americans and Canadians aren’t a lock to meet with a gold medal on the line.

“It just speaks to there’s more eyes on the sport, there’s more investment. More countries are able to show up and play, and I think it’s awesome,” said Knight, a nine-time world champion who scored a goal on Wednesday in her 14th tournament. “And that’s why you really have to take this tournament one game at a time because nothing’s guaranteed.”

There’s a similar expectation growing in Canada, where two-time Olympic defenseman Renata Fast welcomes the challenge of nations bridging the competitive gap.

“As a high-performance athlete, you want to play the best, you want other teams to make it tough,” Fast said. “All of our goals is to grow the game. And the more challenges, the better.”

Make no mistake, the defending champion Americans and Canadians are favored to play for gold on April 14 for what would be the 22nd time in 23 tournaments. The only exception came in 2019, when host team Finland upset Canada in the semifinals before losing a shootout to the Americans.

While Finland remains a contender, fast-rising Czech Republic – winners of the past two bronze medals – and a young Swedish team are showing signs of being ready to mount a challenge.

“We’re not resting on our laurels by any means,” Czech coach and former Canadian Olympian Carla MacLeod said of her team that as recently as 2015 was playing in the IIHF's second division.

“The mission is clear. Everyone is doing their darndest to try to give their teams the best opportunity to win a gold medal, and we’re no different,” she added. “Is the time now, is the time later? We’ll never know. … But I think that gap is going to close.”

The Americans are going younger, with third-year coach John Wroblewski interested in developing depth, while replacing the losses of forward Amanda Kessel to retirement and top defenseman Lee Stecklein, who is focusing this year on playing for PWHL Minnesota.

Plymouth's Kirsten Simms, who at 19 led college hockey in scoring last season, Laila Edwards, 20, and Joy Dunne, 18, are making their national team world debuts, in winning spots ahead of 2022 Olympians Abby Roque and Grace Zumwinkle.

“The thought process is we can wait for them to be ready or that they’re going to get there and we just work to expedite the process,” Wroblewski said.

Simms had three shots and was plus-1 in Wednesday's 4-0 win over Switzerland. Farmington's Megan Keller led the U.S. in ice time at 21:58.

Playoff tracker

Atlantic

▶ Bruins (103)

▶ Panthers (99)

▶ Maple Leafs (95)

Metropolitan

▶ Rangers (106)

▶ Hurricanes (101)

▶ Flyers (83)

Wild card

▶ Lightning (91)

▶ Capitals (82)

(Top two wild-card teams make the playoffs)

▶ Red Wings (82)

▶ Islanders (81)

▶ Penguins (79)

▶ Sabres (77)

▶ Devils (76)

If playoffs started Thursday

Eastern Conference playoff matchups

▶ (1M) Rangers vs. Capitals (WC2)

▶ (A2) Panthers vs. Maple Leafs (A3)

▶ (1A) Bruins vs. Lightning (WC1)

▶ (2M) Hurricanes vs. (3M) Flyers

Remaining games in wild-card race

Flyers (83 points)

▶ Home (2): Devils, Capitals

▶ Away (4): Sabres, Blue Jackets, Canadiens, Rangers

Capitals (82 points)

▶ Home (4): Penguins, Senators, Lightning, Bruins

▶ Away (4): Hurricanes, Wings, Sabres, Flyers

Red Wings (82)

▶ Home (4): Rangers, Sabres, Capitals, Canadiens

▶ Away (3): Penguins, Leafs, Canadiens

Islanders (81)

▶ Home (4): Predators, Rangers, Canadiens, Penguins

▶ Away (3): Blue Jackets, Rangers, Devils

Michigan-area hockey this week

Wednesday

▶ Grand Rapids 5, Chicago 4

Friday

▶ N.Y. Rangers at Red Wings, 7 p.m. (BSD Extra/97.1)

▶ Rockford at Grand Rapids, 7 p.m. (AHL/106.9/1300)

▶ NTDP U18's at Muskegon, 7 p.m.

▶ NTDP U17's at Madison, 8 p.m.

Saturday

▶ Muskegon at NTDP U18's, 7 p.m.

▶ NTDP U17's at Madison, 8 p.m.

Sunday

▶ Buffalo at Red Wings, 1 p.m. (TST/97.1)

▶ Rockford at Grand Rapids, 7 p.m. (AHL/106.9/1300)

Monday

▶ Red Wings 4, Tampa Bay 2