Islanders fans cheer a third-period goal against the Canadiens at Nassau Coliseum on March 14, 2019. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The NHL and its television partners deserve high marks for staging playoff games in Canadian “bubbles” that have allowed us to suspend disbelief and pretend things are sort of normal.
Most of the time, it has been easy to focus on the action and not notice the empty seats around it.
But come Thursday night, it will be impossible not to watch the Islanders and Flyers in Game 6 of a second-round playoff series without thinking about how much cooler the whole thing would be under other circumstances.