For Washington Capitals fans, there weren’t a lot of fun moments in the team’s 4-1 loss to the New York Rangers in Game One. Not only were the Capitals dominated on the scoreboard, 4-1, but they were also overwhelmed in process, too. Physically, however, they went toe-to-toe with their Metropolitan Division rivals, squabbling and mushing each others’ faces seemingly at every whistle.
The most memorable confrontation may have been when Trevor van Riemsdyk skated in a b-line toward Rangers’ forward Will Cuylle and shoved him directly in the chest as both teams were skating off the ice for the second intermission.
Once TVR completed sharing his feelings, he turned around and skated towards the Capitals’ tunnel but Rangers forward Chris Kreider followed him. TVR eventually turned around and shoved him too.
TVR did not have any backup and did not seem to care even as he was encircled by most players on the Rangers.
Rangers enforcer Matt Rempe skated over and put his arm around TVR as if dad was having a talk with his young son. There were move shoves. Finally, the attention was caught of several Capitals players who were completely oblivious to the exchange. Tom Wilson, Martin Fehervary, and Hendrix Lapierre hurried turned around and skated over as officials broke up the aggressive conversation.
Trevor van Riemsdyk approached the Rangers as they were leaving the ice and got himself surrounded. A few Caps came back out after leaving the ice. We were real close to this thing exploding between then 2nd and 3rd periods. @NYRangers @Capitals pic.twitter.com/iW6h3ILLCD
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) April 21, 2024
In these moments, we call him TVARGHHHHHHHH.
It’s not completely clear what inspired TVR to have a vent session with Cuylle though there were clues.
Cuylle hit Fehervary in the defensive zone and the two exchanged cross-checks wth 1:45 remaining in the period. Cuylle eventually put the Slovakian defenseman in a partial headlock before officials broke them up. During TVR’s final shift of the period, Vincent Trocheck crosschecked him hard into the end boards. TVR could be seen gesturing to an official who saw the play and did not blow the whistle.
TVR is not known as a chippy, physical player, but, if the moment is right, he does have a mean streak. TVR has fought five different times during his 10 seasons in the NHL. His last fight was against Bryan Rust on November 9, 2022.
“Yeah, it did (physical),” Fehervary said to Monumental Sports Network at intermission. “We gotta play smart but we need to be hard. No one likes it when someone’s playing really hard. We just need to keep on going.”
