Boomer Esiason, who knows a thing or two about playing in a football stadium, was at his son-in-law’s place Wednesday, hyping up the experience Matt Martin will get at MetLife Stadium this weekend.
“This will be the biggest crowd I’ve ever played in front of. Pretty crazy thing to walk out there and really see how big this place really is,” Martin said after the Isles practiced outdoors Thursday in the run-up to Sunday’s Stadium Series game against the Rangers. “ ’Cause I’ve been here for Jet games, Giant games, you never really realize quite how big it is until you’re standing on the field, on the ice, whatever. It’s pretty crazy.”
Martin is one of just four Islanders on the current roster who played at Yankee Stadium against the Rangers in 2014 — Cal Clutterbuck, Brock Nelson and Casey Cizikas being the others. MetLife has a far bigger capacity, with the NHL expecting 140,000 across the pair of games over the weekend.
The Islanders were the first of the four teams playing in the Stadium Series to get onto the ice — with the Rangers, Devils and Flyers all scheduled to do so Friday. That made the day a little more low key, with coach Patrick Roy putting them through their paces before player families made their way onto the ice.
“Looking at them today, they look excited about the game,” Roy said. “I wish in my days we would have had games like this. I had the chance to do it seven years ago in Colorado when we played the old-timers’ game with the Detroit guys. It was fun seeing the crowd and all the people, and the day after we had the game against the Red Wings. It was my first [outdoor] experience, and I really enjoyed it as a coach and even as a former player.”
Thursday, Roy said a little more than 24 hours in advance, would be little more than a distraction. A practice that begins with a team photo and ends with a family skate is, inherently, not a venue to get much done.
The Islanders, though, were more than happy to embrace that, at least for the day.
“Today was awesome,” Ryan Pulock said. “Practice and then spent some time with the families. I think the event itself, the rink in the stadium, the stadium looks massive. You got Rangers versus Isles. I think the crowd’s gonna be amazing. I think we all look forward to Sunday.”
This is a rare moment in the spotlight for a club that usually plays second-fiddle in its own market, and which has been derided by a prominent national commentator or two as boring.
Roy’s presence, though, makes them anything but. Ditto for playing a rivalry match under stadium lights.
“That’s the first thing people have mentioned to me,” Roy said of the rivalry with the Rangers. “They love those games, it excites the fans, and everybody’s really entertained by those games. I look forward to being part of it on Sunday afternoon.”
There is no alumni game scheduled this weekend. Just the first renewal of the Battle of New York since Dec. 22, 2022, with the nominal home side in need of some momentum after dropping two straight games to take some air out of the playoff-chase balloon.
That should be motivation enough for a team that has yet to find any semblance of consistency this season, but must find a way to do so if it is to be above the playoff cutline after 82 games.
“Today was just so much fun to come here, let loose, enjoy it,” Martin said. “From here on, we’ll really focus on the game.”