EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The NHL mobile refrigeration truck arrived at MetLife Stadium on Monday, the first step in the herculean task of building a hockey rink to stage two NHL outdoor games with fans in attendance on back-to-back days for the first time.
"It'll be different for us because usually it's a build up to kind of that big game day and then sort of the post event crash," said Andrew Higgins, NHL senior manager, facilities operations and hockey operations. "I think this will be a little extra challenging, just kind of ramping ourselves up a second day and getting ready for that second game before we get ready to tear out.
"So, for sure it'll be a little bit different of a unique opportunity for our team."
The 2024 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series will have two regular-season outdoor games featuring four Metropolitan Division rivals. The New Jersey Devils will face the Philadelphia Flyers on Feb. 17 (8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, SN360, TVAS2), and the New York Rangers will play the New York Islanders the following day (3 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, SN, TVAS).
"This is Game 3 (and 4) for us for the outdoor season, and we've had two successful games, the Heritage Classic in Edmonton and the Winter Classic in Seattle, so it's nice to be in New Jersey," said Derek King, NHL senior director, facilities operations and hockey operations. "Once we get the refrigeration truck parked, we'll start doing all of our piping connections [Tuesday]. The scaffolding has been built, so we're going to come off the trailer, onto the scaffolding, go through the concourse and down to the field and over the next couple of days, you'll see everything come together.
"February 8 is a big day for us -- that's when you're going to kind of see the field transform, the flooring go in, dashers go up. We plan on the evening of the Feb. 8 to start making ice."