Matt Martin admitted Monday that he’s still not over the Islanders’ loss in Game 7 last Friday night, calling in to talk to his father-in-law, Boomer Esiason, and Jerry Recco about the end of the Isles’ season.
“It’s disappointing; you’d think going to back-to-back conference finals would make it easier, but I think it hurt even more just with the group we had,” Martin said. “We’re proud of what we were able to do this year, but we thought we were gonna get the job done and give Nassau Coliseum one last run.”
The Islanders are an incredibly tight group, in part because of the three-month run they made in last season’s NHL bubble, getting to the conference finals before losing to the Lightning in six games. They took Tampa Bay to seven this year, but
“That’s the worst part, that we are such a tight group. Every year it seems with the salary cap, and this year expansion, it’s harder to keep the team together,” Martin said. “We love how close we were as a group, especially after spending so much time together in the bubble, so to have another opportunity this year against the same team, we really believed we were gonna win. To come up short sucked, but we’re hoping Lou (Lamoriello, Isles GM) is going to be able to keep this team together as much as possible and give us another shot at it.”
Martin called the Lightning “as good of a hockey team as you’re going to see in this league,” and whether or not Tampa Bay wins back-to-back cups, the Isles were proud of the way they played – and just as disappointed that they not only lost 1-0, but also officially closed the Nassau Coliseum without one more banner.
“After the first period we felt really good, because they can jump on you quick and get the crowd into it. You don’t see the shorthanded goal coming, but we weren’t able to get one by, and at the end of the day, it’s disappointing,” Martin said. “We thought we were gonna give Nassau Coliseum one last dance, it felt like the stars were aligned, but when it comes that abruptly, you don’t see that coming.”
Matty Marts also admitted that Sydney and Winnie were pretty upset, having been his biggest support system all year, the same way all of the players’ families have been – and when Boomer & Jerry mentioned the collective support system may have been even more nervous for Game 7 than the team, Martin agreed.
“I’ve been out for games in the past and the anxiety is a lot worse when you’re sitting on the sidelines and have no control over it or unable to help,” he laughed.
But alas, the Nassau Coliseum era is no more…but Martin will take one lasting memory with him: the atmosphere around the singing of the National Anthem before every game this postseason.
“I’ve been around a long time and seen a lot of things that give me chills or amp me up to another level, but that first anthem, and every game after that, just sent chills through my body,” Matty Marts said. “You think about where our world is, and the amount of division we have...to have 14,000 people uniting the sing the anthem loud and proud together is amazing. I’ve seen clips on Twitter, and it felt like it kept getting louder and louder every game. Even talking about it now gives me butterflies. It’s an amazing thing, you just can’t put it into words. Coming out for the first shift you just want to run through a brick wall!”
Perhaps they can, if The Barn is razed, but as it relates to next season, well, Matty Marts thinks it’s simply time to make some new memories at the new UBS Arena.
“I think we’re excited, and I think our fans should be excited. Nassau Coliseum has a lot of history and an amazing atmosphere, but they’ve built the new arena to try to capture and harness that atmosphere, only with all the bells and whistles our fans have been missing,” Martin said. “We’ll miss the Coliseum because there’s been so many great memories there, but it’s time to make some new memories in the new building.”
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