Video: Rangers' Ryan Strome vs. Panthers' Mason Marchment

Two of the NHL's best teams faced off on Tuesday night when the Florida Panthers visited the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. These two teams could very well find themselves playing each other in the later rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and tensions were high as a result. The Rangers signed notorious tough guy Ryan Reaves this past offseason, but he was scoring and not fighting on Tuesday, notching the first goal of the game just 45 seconds in. Despite their hot start, New York was getting outplayed and outshot, and by the time Florida made it 2-1 with 17:42 left in the second period, the Rangers had just 7 shots on goal compared to the Panthers' 17.

The Rangers were able to steal momentum back by taking a 3-2 lead into the break after a late goal from Chris Kreider, which capped off a crazy first two periods of back-and-forth action between these two Eastern Conference powerhouses. Early in the third period, Rangers center Ryan Strome got tied up with Mason Marchment in front of New York goalie Igor Shesterkin which lead to the two of them dropping the gloves in an entertaining tilt.

Here is the fight in its entirety:

In the video, you can see Strome talking to Marchment while the two of them were in the box, and the broadcast showed a hit from earlier in the game that Strome took exception to. Either that or he was just really jealous about his 6-point game the other night.

The Rangers went on to win the game 5-2 and they will have a nice long break with All-Star Weekend taking place, the Rangers aren't in action again until February 15th when they host the Boston Bruins. The Panthers will also enjoy an extended break and will next play the Carolina Hurricanes on the 16th of February.