[Red Badger]

I am by no means an expert, but that ‘fight’ looked staged to me.............

[Alberta's Child]

The "staging" is kind of the result of the process of starting the game.

1. The visiting team announces its starting lineup first. In this case, the Devils started with their fourth line (mostly rugged players who are not highly skilled) and their two most physical defensemen. There's no doubt they were out there to start trouble.

2. The home team announces its starting lineup based on who the visitors put on the ice. In this case, the Rangers had no choice but to start the game with their most skilled players on the bench and put out some rough customers of their own to match up against the trolls the Devils announced as their starters.

3. The result was both predictable and somewhat orchestrated.

[PGR88]

I am by no means an expert, but that ‘fight’ looked staged to me.............

It was, to some extent. There is bad blood between the teams, because of some cheap shots taken in previous games, so that's the background.

Rangers send out their goon for the first shift, so the opposing coach, for various reasons, knows he must respond.

think of high school, where the talk all day has been about the two opposing bullies, and their friends, meeting after school....