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Is home ice really an advantage in the NHL playoffs?

Islanders fans cheer a goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 3 of the First Round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Nassau Coliseum on Thursday, May 20, 2021. Credit: Jim McIsaac

It would be absurd to suggest that nearly filling Nassau Coliseum with 12,000 fans on Thursday night is anything other than a good thing.

It is a great thing, actually, for community morale, for business, for television optics, for . . . fun!

But what about the 20 people who matter most to Islanders fans for Game 3 of a second-round playoff series against the Bruins – the Islanders themselves?