Devils fan launches headbutt at Rangers fan during fight in stands

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Thursday night was not a good one in Newark for the New Jersey Devils and their fans.

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Things got especially chippy on and off the ice during the game between the Devils and New York Rangers.

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One Devils supporter took an argument a bit too far and was ejected from the game after going after a rival fan.

Things kicked off in the first period when a fan wearing a Jack Hughes Devils jersey walks into the aisle and begins pointing and yelling at a man wearing a dark jacket, who left his seat to approach the alleged instigator.

After a little bit of jawing between the two, each was joined at their sides by a fellow supporter of their team that attempted to calm things down – it didn’t work.

This was hardly a riot up in the cheap seats either, with the game going on a mere three rows from the fans’ antics.

While the action settles for a brief second, someone off-screen yells, “Beat his a–,” before the Devils fan leans back to unload a headbutt on the man in the jacket over the stairway railing, though it was unclear if it fully connected.

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The two exchanged a flurry of punches while a member of security was quick to hold back the Devils fan.

While the Rangers fan was knocked backward in the exchange, he threw one final swing, which didn’t make much of a connection, as the crowd went wild.

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With two security guards and a railing between them, there wasn’t much hope of any further escalation.

The incident ended with the Devils fan being led away by security and saying “I didn’t start s—.”

A fan of the Broadway Blue Shirts was all too happy to yell, “Go home, buddy, go home.”

The scrap between fans wasn’t the only rough stuff south of the Hudson River, either.

On the ice, Rangers’ Matt Rempe was ejected from the game after just 10 seconds of ice time for a questionable hit on New Jersey’s Nathan Bastian.

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The 6-foot-7 rookie was assessed a match penalty for lowering the boom to the head of the winger, who suffered a head injury and bloody nose but did return.

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Rempe is quickly gaining a reputation for getting into the rough stuff, having dropped the gloves in his NHL debut on the weekend against Islanders tough guy Matt Martin during their Stadium Series matchup.

The two squared off at centre ice less than 90 seconds into the game and went at it for a good half-minute to the joy of the roughly 80,000 fans at MetLife Stadium.

As for Thursday night’s game, it was the visiting fans that went home happy as the first-place Rangers took a 5-1 victory with Hughes netting the lonely consolation goal with just over two minutes remaining in the contest.

Will there be some revenge on tap when these teams meet next time? The rivals will square off again twice this season, with both games taking place at Madison Square Garden – a place known for hosting a few fights in its day.

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