Jayson Eisner of Merrick thought he was having a friendly, brief conversation with a restaurant owner.
Instead, the 17-year-old, his brothers, Zach, 24, and Josh, 22, and their father, Troy, 55, wound up with playoff tickets courtesy of Islanders’ co-owner Jon Ledecky.
"He’s a mensch," Troy Eisner said of Ledecky. "He’s a great guy."
Eisner and his sons were back at Nassau Coliseum on Saturday afternoon for the Islanders’ 4-1 win over the Penguins, tickets they had purchased before the first-round series began.
But, on Thursday, without tickets for Game 3, the family decided to eat at Borrelli’s Restaurant Café & Pizzeria in East Meadow — a popular spot for Islanders’ fans close to the Coliseum — to be part of the playoff atmosphere.