No matter the result of Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals on Thursday night, the atmosphere can not match what might have been in a non-COVID-19 world.
In that alternate universe, the lower-seeded Islanders would have tried to stay alive against the Lightning at a raucous Nassau Coliseum.
I wrote the same thing before Game 6 against the Flyers in the second round, but the increased stakes only make it truer against Tampa Bay.
An empty Rogers Place in Edmonton is no match for the Barn.