Lou Lamoriello, Bryan Trottier wax nostalgic to promote NHL Stadium Series outdoor games 

The Rangers-Islanders game at MetLife Stadium on Feb. 18 will mark the 41st time the NHL has held a regular-season game outdoors, so one would think the novelty has worn off by now.

It has not, at least not for those associated with the games, on and off the ice.

That was evident on Wednesday when officials from the NHL, Islanders, Rangers, Flyers and Devils gathered at MetLife to promote this year’s Stadium Series games there, on the day tickets went on sale.

The Flyers and Devils will play at 8 p.m. on Feb. 17 followed by the Rangers and Islanders — it’s an Islanders home game — at 3 p.m. on Feb. 18.

The nostalgic pull of outdoor games has been part of the marketing since such games were introduced — in 2003 as a novelty and in 2008 as an annual event.

Islanders president Lou Lamoriello, 81, still fondly recalls growing up playing outdoors in Rhode Island.

“There’s something special [about it],” he said, “and that did reflect to me each and every time I see one of these games.”

What does he recall most about those games from decades ago?

“Freezing,” he said. “Trying to keep your toes warm . . . But also feeling the fresh air, what it does to you. Breathing it. I always thought that you could get in better shape outdoors than indoors.”

Bryan Trottier, 67, the former Islanders star, recalled walking to the creek with his skates as a youngster in southern Saskatchewan. “It brings back a lot of memories,” he said.

Trottier also admitted he is “envious” such games were not played when he was in the NHL. But he did get to participate in an outdoor Penguins-Capitals alumni game in Pittsburgh on Dec. 31, 2010.

“For us, it was an opportunity to go back to our childhoods,” Trottier said.

So it went on a celebratory morning that featured NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, New Jersey governor Phil Murphy, Rangers general manager Chris Drury and many others as the league and stadium set off to sell about 160,000 tickets to two games that will be contested in less than 24 hours.

Carl Banks and Nick Mangold were there to represent the Giants and Jets. Banks grew up in eastern Michigan — “In Original Six country,” he said — and tried hockey before football.

“I literally face-planted,” he said. “I finally learned how to [skate], but cleats are better for me.”

The Rangers are 4-0 in outdoor games, most recently beating the Sabres at Citi Field on Jan. 1, 2018. The Islanders are 0-1 — a 2-1 loss to the Rangers at Yankee Stadium during Super Bowl week in 2014.

This will be the first time either team has played in a football stadium. Because of their symmetry, it is easier to situate a hockey rink in a football stadium than in a baseball park. The rink will be centered on the field at MetLife.

“It’s just exciting,” Lamoriello said. “It’s a part of the game that takes away the competition and puts it in an environment where everybody just feels so good about each other.”

Notes & quotes: Asked about Mathew Barzal being moved to the third line for parts of the past two games, Lamoriello said, “There are decisions within the game and no one will ever know some of the reasons why and why not, but that’s hockey. Something for you [reporters] to make something out of nothing. That’s how I look at it. And I smile when I read it.” . . . Does Lamoriello think more neck protection could be coming to hockey after the death of former Penguin Adam Johnson? Johnson was cut in the neck by a skate blade in England on Saturday night and later died. “There’s no question it’s going to open a lot of eyes,” Lamoriello said. “There’s a lot of individual thought process and collectively it’s something that we have to look at.” Said Trottier: “The whole thing is extremely tragic.”

By Neil Best

neil.best@newsday.com@sportswatch

Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.