Captain Jacob Trouba, who has struggled of late and recently heard his name in trade rumors for the second time in six months, fought Montreal’s Josh Anderson early in Saturday’s game. The Canadiens presumably wanted New York’s captain to answer the bell for a hit he made earlier this season on Justin Barron, and he obliged.

Just two minutes into the game, the Rangers captain dropped the gloves with Montreal’s Josh Anderson in a heated bout that echoed the growing frustrations around the team and Trouba in particular.

There’s no doubt the Canadiens were aiming for retribution after New York Rangers captain Jacob Trouba delivered one of his many questionable hits in a previous game, and forward Josh Anderson wasted no time making it happen.

Jacob Trouba and the New York Rangers are not playing their best hockey right now. The Rangers began the season as one of the better teams in the NHL. However, New York has hit a major roadblock through the first quarter of the 2024-25 season.

The last time the Habs and Rangers met, Jacob Trouba was in the news for a borderline hit on Justin Barron. The latter had suffered a concussion. The two clubs crossed swords again this afternoon… and we wondered if someone was going to send Trouba a message.

Jacob Trouba lit a fire into the New York Rangers early on in their Saturday afternoon game against the Montreal Canadiens. In the first period, Trouba fought Josh Anderson as the two were throwing punches at each other for well over 30 seconds.

Josh Anderson gets the better of veteran NHL defenseman Jacob Trouba on Saturday afternoon.

NHL fans reacted to the Saturday fight between Montreal Canadians winger Josh Anderson and New York Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba.