(Screenshots/ NBCSN)

It was absolute chaos between the New York Rangers and Washington Capitals to begin Wednesday night’s game at Madison Square. We knew there would be fireworks after Tom Wilson injured Artemi Panarin in the previous meeting and was let off with a $5K fine by the NHL.

As soon as the puck dropped for the highly-anticipated rematch between two East Division rivals, three fights broke out simultaneously off the faceoff. Kevin Rooney and Nic Dowd dropped the gloves, while Phillip Di Giuseppe took on Garnet Hathaway. Colin Blackwell vs Carl Hagelin was the other fight.

Tom Wilson was soon challenged by Rangers’ blueliner Brendan Smith after stepping on the ice for his first shift of the game. Both players landed some solid rights before the ref broke up the scrap.

There would be two more fights between the Rangers and Capitals before the five-minute mark of the game. Ryan Strome took on Lars Eller and Anthony Bitetto fought Michael Raffl.

Here’s how the Washington penalty box looked after all the early chaos:

That is one large penalty list:

The shenanigans concluded with 10-minute misconducts assessed to Wilson and Rangers’ Rooney at the end of the period. There were 20 penalties given out in the first period, totaling 100 PIMs. Judging by the opening period, there could be plenty of more fireworks before we hear the final buzzer.