There are many differing theories with regard to the importance of home-ice advantage in the NHL. Playing at one’s own rink affords the head coach the opportunity to make the final decision on line matchups before each face-off, giving him what can be a huge edge in neutralizing the opposition’s top players.

But of course the downside can be felt when the crowd is taken out of the game by an early opposition goal, or when the home fans get frustrated by the power play’s failure to shoot the puck with the desired frequency.

Both the Islanders and Devils split the first two games of their playoff series, meaning that the underdogs find themselves with home-ice advantage. And while that’s great news for the Isles — who are going up against the President’s Trophy-winning Buffalo Sabres — it’s a sign that the Devils could be in some serious trouble.

The Islanders, of course, opened their series with the Devils having to do without star netminder Rick DiPietro, who was sidelined with post-concussion symptoms. While AHL call-up Wade Dubielewicz’ performance in DiPietro’s absence provided the Isles’ regular season with a storybook ending, there is no disputing the assertion that DiPietro gives the Islanders a far better chance of upending Buffalo. Without question, DiPietro’s superior puckhandling ability — and irrepressible confidence — has an enormously positive impact on his teammates.

After a 3–1 Game 1 loss in which Dubielewicz was capable if not spectacular, DiPietro made a triumphant return Saturday night, backing the Isles to an impressive 3–2 victory. His 32-save performance included a few stops of the spectacular variety and, as expected, he infused his teammates with a valuable burst of energy. In fact, they looked very much like a legitimate Cup contender, much as they did in the brief period between the acquisition of Ryan Smyth and the infamous Chris Simon incident.

Befitting a team with Cup aspirations, the Isles’ defense delivered a strong performance throughout, doing a fairly good job of keeping the Sabres’ blazing-fast forwards to the outside. And though 34 shots found their way to DiPietro, the Isles’ skaters blocked 19 others, a clear sign that this team is prepared to make the sacrifices needed to advance.

Particularly impressive — and this news will not be swallowed easily by Rangers fans — was Tom Poti. Consistently in the right place at the right time, he blocked four shots, earned a team-leading 27:52 of ice time and didn’t give the puck away a single time through the series’ first two games. Though he did finish Saturday’s game with a minus-1 rating, he more than made up for it by assisting on two of the Isles’ three goals.

While line-matching against the Sabres is essentially futile — their first, second, and third lines are equally dangerous — it appeared going in that home-ice advantage would have provided Devils head coach Lou Lamoriello with an edge. Tampa’s lineup is incredibly top-heavy, with four players — Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, Brad Richards, and Dan Boyle — scoring 140 of their 243 goals. With John Madden anchoring perhaps the NHL’s finest checking line, winning games at the Continental Airlines Arena seemed only to be a matter of making sure that Madden and Jay Pandolfo were matched up against Lecavalier (52 goals) and St. Louis (43 goals) each time they took the ice.

But instead, it was Tampa head coach John Tortorella who distinguished himself with some very clever strategic adjustments. Though Lecavalier and St. Louis had demonstrated stellar chemistry throughout the regular season — and also during Tampa’s run to the Cup in 2004 — Tortorella realized halfway through Game 2 that splitting up the dynamic duo could yield huge rewards.

Indeed, with Madden and Pandolfo focusing their attentions on Lecavalier, St. Louis went to work with Richards, combining for a game-tying goal late in the second period. And then, early in the third stanza, Lecavalier crashed the net and deflected a Paul Ranger shot past Martin Brodeur for what turned out to be the game winner. The Lightning move the puck extremely well, and with Lecavalier and St. Louis now wreaking havoc on separate lines, the Devils will need to play much better positional hockey if they’re to neutralize Tampa’s beautiful tic-tac-toe passing game.

Another adjustment Tortorella made for this series, with regard to his goaltenders, proved to be even more critical. In Game 1, former Rangers farmhand Johan Holmqvist struggled mightily. But rather than tossing his netminder under the bus — as Tortorella foolishly did with John Grahame last spring — he instead demonstrated some newfound patience. Holmqvist rewarded that patience with a stellar performance, stopping 34 of 36 shots en route to an impressive bounce-back victory.

However, in reality, as long as Brodeur is between the pipes — and Holmqvist is tending goal for Tampa — the Devils hold a critical advantage in this series. Although the Isles did show that they have both the moxie and the talent to compete with the NHL’s regular season champs, they’ve still got a long way to go if they’re to upend the Sabres.

But what the Isles did — and what the Devils allowed the Lightning to do — was create some doubt in the minds of their heavily favored opponents. If the Isles continue to do the little things well, and if the Lightning keep finding ways to slip the puck past Brodeur, then the Eastern Conference playoff tree just might get thrown into a state of complete disarray.

Mr. Greenstein is the editor in chief of InsideHockey.com.