Travis Green fires back at Peter Laviolette after Wednesday's line brawl

Hockey fans were treated to a classic line brawl mere moments after the opening face-off at center ice of Madison Square Garden Wednesday night. The host New York Rangers clashed with their visiting historic rivals, the New Jersey Devils, as all five skaters from each team dropped the gloves and squared off right as the puck was dropped. 

When the dust settled, a staggering eight players had been ejected from the game before it had even reached the two-second mark. Adding to the chaos, Rangers coach Peter Laviolette and Devils interim coach Travis Green engaged in a heated exchange, shouting at each other from their respective benches. The tension was palpable, prompting TNT analyst Darren Pang to swiftly mute his microphone to shield viewers from the barrage of obscenities being hurled across the ice.

According to Greene, who replaced the terminated Lindy Ruff early last month, he says that Laviolette initiated the heated exchange and he's still not sure why. 

“I look over and he’s yelling, talking to me,” Green said. “I’m more than willing to go and talk to him and I have no idea why Peter was mad, to be honest. For two reasons.

“For starters, they more or less, their players were lining up fights before the face-off and none of this would have happened, which we all know why it did happen tonight, none of it would have happened if something happened the game before, which was obvious that they didn’t want it to happen that game. I have no idea why Peter would have been upset and again, that’s not on me why he’s upset.”

Meanwhile, Laviolette had the following to say about the fiery exchange, which drew laughter from the media members in the room. 

“I think it’s probably just emotions more than anything," he said. "Coaches, players, whatever it is. There’s obviously a bit between the two teams. I just think emotions get in there. How’s that for vague?”

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