It is no secret the Nassau Coliseum provides the New York Islanders with an enormous advantage come playoff time. The big question is, how big of an advantage? And how will empty sports arenas impact the team?
While the statistics do not tell the whole story, they do tell part of it. The Islanders have won five out of their last eight playoff games at Nassau Coliseum. On the road, they have won seven out of their last 18 playoff games. And at Barclays Center, they have won two out of their seven playoff games.
As the legendary rapper, Eminem once said in a lyric, “It goes Reggie, Jay-Z, Tupac, and Biggie.” For the Islanders, it goes Nassau Coliseum, away ice, Barclays Center. When just examining the statistics, it is clear where the Islanders are the most dangerous.
While these statistics do point to a clear winner when it comes to where the Islanders are most successful, it is worth mentioning, however, that the Islanders have played zero second-round playoff series at the Nassau Coliseum, while having played two at the Barclays Center.
It is common sense that the playoffs merely get more challenging as the rounds advance. So while the Islanders have more playoff wins at the Coliseum, it can be argued they are playing tougher teams at the Barclays, which is why they have only had limited success. Moreover, it would make sense for the Islanders to have more success at the Coliseum when the team has played three quarterfinals rounds there, while only one at Barclays Center.

To implement this data to estimate how they Islanders are going to perform without fans, we will assume that the Islanders playing on away ice is the same as when the team goes out to play without fans. In fact, it most likely is probably harder to play in an arena of opposing fans than in the arena without fans.
Nonetheless, there have been times the Islanders have turned PPG Paints Arena, the arena of the Pittsburgh Penguins, into a library, giving it all the qualities of an arena without fans.
Based on these statistics, we can predict the Islanders to not play much differently without fans. The range between Nassau Coliseum’s success and success on the road is pretty broad. But here is the fun thing with statistics: if the Islanders can win over 50% of their games this year in the postseason, they hopefully will find a parade waiting for them when they return home.

Ethan Halle

Ethan is an Economics Major at the University of Florida looking to pursue a double major in Sports Management with a minor in political science.