Matt Rempe and Jeffrey Viel dropped the gloves tonight in New York, and the Rangers forward came out on top.
The Lightning forward was the one who sought him out, according to Vince Mercogliano, and he ended up on the wrong end of it.
The clip shows Rempe, No. 73, locked up with Viel along the boards, the two leaning hard into each other just off the glass.
Viel picked the wrong dance partner. The Rangers forward clearly hasn't forgotten how to handle himself.
Picking a scrap with Rempe is like challenging the bouncer to an arm-wrestling match on your way into the bar.
Rempe had dressed just once this season before tonight, on a $975,000 cap hit.
Viel came in without a point and with a -3 rating through four games.
You can see the full fight here.
Matt Rempe and Jeffrey Viel drop the gloves during Rangers-Lightning game
It was Rempe's first tilt since he broke his left thumb against Ryan Reaves on Oct. 23 of last year, according to Mercogliano.
Coming back from a hand injury and willingly dropping the gloves again says plenty about his mindset.
It's also the second straight Tampa Bay game with a tilt, after Scott Sabourin's scrap with Logan Stanley on Saturday.
The Rangers came in at 5-2-0 and perfect on home ice.
They topped Tampa Bay 5-1 in the first meeting on Oct. 1.
Mika Zibanejad leads the Rangers with 7 points.
Dylan Garand sits at .945 with Igor Shesterkin out long-term.
The Lightning arrived on a four-game winning streak, with Brandon Hagel and Nikita Kucherov at 8 points apiece.
Jake Guentzel adds 6 points of his own for Jon Cooper's group.
Andrei Vasilevskiy sits at .892 in the other crease.
Mike Sullivan won't mind the energy, as long as it doesn't cost his team a power play.
Does this give the home crowd a jolt for the rest of the night?
The Rangers visit New Jersey on Thursday, while Tampa Bay hosts Seattle.
Rempe is back in the lineup and back to old habits. Viel probably won't be the last one to test him.
Did Jeffrey Viel make a mistake dropping the gloves with Matt Rempe?
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