If you were at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, you saw magic.
“I almost cried before the game – it was really hard for me,” said Artemi Panarin, who was the overtime hero in a 6-5 comeback victory for the New York Rangers.
It was the Rangers’ 18th rebound effort of the season, the most in the NHL. And it was only fitting that it came against the team’s biggest rival, the New York Islanders.
The emotions on both sides were evident right away, even before the puck was dropped. Matt Rempe became the first NHLer to make his debut in an outdoor game. On his first shift, he dropped the gloves with NHL veteran Matt Martin just 89 seconds after Erik Gustafsson scored for the Rangers.
“Kudos to Martin for giving him his first one up here. It was a heck of a fight,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. “Dropping the gloves with a guy that’s been around this league and has fought a lot of fights – and has established himself as a real tough customer – kudos to him, that was awesome (pauses for laughter). I mean, he [Rempe] couldn’t have had a better night either.”
It wasn’t a playoff game, but it certainly had a postseason atmosphere. After falling down by the score of 4-1 in the second period, the Rangers manged to turn things around. Vincent Trocheck led the way with two goals, while Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad and Panarin all had their own.
Over 150,000+ hockey fans gathered at the Meadowlands this weekend. No matter who they rooted for, every single one of them left with a new core memory.
“The atmosphere was electric,” Panarin said. “It was something I can’t compare anything else to. I had to hold back tears because it was that much of a spectacle. Once again I have to thank the fans for giving it that electric feeling and wave of emotion.”
There was a long pause after this response by Panarin, but Zibanejad looked around and said, “How am I supposed to top that?” he said with a chuckle.
Zibanejad took this response in for a second, gathered his thoughts, and expressed his emotion.
“I think this is – just from the first time you’ve been seeing these outdoor games happening and you get to be a part of it. This one in particular, I think, just being at MetLife with the way it’s constructed, I feel like everyone is close. It’s perfect in terms of that. Hearing our fans before the game – even when we were playing soccer and seeing them on the runway – this is definitely at the top of my list of experiences and games and memories that I’ll take with me forever.”
It was an incredible weekend at MetLife Stadium for four different organizations, four different fan bases and the NHL as a whole. The real winner was the sport of hockey – moments like this make the game of hockey as beautiful and pure as it is.
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