‘It’s more than just a game’: Flyers executives eager for February Stadium Series experience

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Danny Brière remembers taking it all in. Before his two appearances with the Flyers in outdoor games, he went for a walk.

On New Year’s Day in 2010, Brière roamed around the Fenway Park warning track before the Winter Classic against the Boston Bruins. And two years later, he did the same at Citizens Bank Park before the Flyers hosted the New York Rangers.

“Those moments happen very seldom in your hockey career, so I was trying to enjoy as much of it [as I could],” the Flyers’ general manager said Wednesday morning.

“It’s an event. It’s more than just a game.”

That second time around, Brière was involved in an iconic NHL outdoor game moment. With the Flyers trailing the Rangers 3-2 in the third period, Brière took a penalty shot on Henrik Lundqvist with 19 seconds left. Lundqvist made the save and the Rangers won.

Brière will have a different perspective this time around inside one of the largest professional sports stadiums in the country. Wednesday morning, tickets went on sale and an official logo was revealed for what will be the Flyers’ sixth outdoor contest. The NHL hosted a news conference at MetLife Stadium with all four teams that will participate in February’s stadium series. The Flyers play the New Jersey Devils on Saturday, Feb. 17, and the Rangers and New York Islanders play the next day.

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More information will come out at a later date, including details about a fan fest and a concert that will take place the night the Flyers and Devils play, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said Wednesday.

“When you think about how much hockey means to this area, and the number of people involved in hockey, no better place to fill than this place with 80,000 people twice,” Bettman said.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said the two-day event was “almost by any measure, any dimension, a huge deal.”

Murphy said the state is pushing to have MetLife Stadium, already announced as a host site for the 2026 men’s World Cup, be the stadium that hosts the final.

“The success of something like this is another data point that outsiders can look at and say, ‘These people know what they’re doing,’” Murphy said.

The Flyers are 1-3-1 in outdoor games. They last played in one in 2021 at Lake Tahoe, Nev., where they were defeated by the Bruins, 7-3. Their lone outdoor win came on a Claude Giroux overtime goal to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins at Lincoln Financial Field in 2019.

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Brière talked about how the days surrounding the game are bigger than the game itself. He recalled skating around the ice with his young children on the practice days before the game.

But in the grand scheme of an NHL season, the game vs. the Devils is just another opportunity for two points when it boils down to it. Brière said this timing is a bit different than when he played.

“You’re in February. You’re coming down the stretch,” he said. “When you play January 1 or 2, you’re halfway through the season. Yes, the game is important, but it’s more about the event than anything else. You want to win and get the two points. But now, if we’re in a playoff race, they could be important games. We’ll see where we’re at at that point. You’ve got to make sure. You can’t just drift off and look at the stars and enjoy the scenery, you also have to play a hockey game.”

There’s no telling where the Flyers could be come mid-February. They have gotten off to a solid 4-4-1 start, but in their rebuilding process, making the playoffs is still a bit of a long shot.

Still, Dan Hilferty, chairman and CEO of Comcast Spectacor and the governor of the Flyers, said being involved in the Stadium Series was big for exposure. And he expects to see a lot of orange and black in the stands because Flyers fans, he said, “travel better than any fans in the country.”

“It’s huge for the Flyers because we have started this rebuild and we’re committed to it,” Hilferty said. “We’re going to be very patient in building the Flyers into a perennial challenger and candidate for the Stanley Cup. It’s huge in that we’re beginning to get the fans in Philly really excited about the Flyers again. We’re playing hard against some great teams. We just think this will catapult us as we move along this rebuild process.

“It’s just another way of connecting your fans to what the NHL is about.”