There were a lot of reasons the Islanders lost the first two games of their second-round series against the Hurricanes, but you know what wasn’t one of them? The fact the games were played at Barclays Center.
Of course it has been a weird change, as it would be for any franchise, to move the location of its home games in the middle of the postseason. Of course from a competitive standpoint, the Islanders would prefer to be playing these games at the Coliseum, where they began the first-round sweep of the Penguins.
But the Brooklyn crowds were just fine over the weekend, and that despite these two defensive teams doing all they can to suck the life out of their opponent (and therefore a game).