Brock Nelson played really well on Wednesday and scored twice to help the New York Islanders win their hockey game against the Montreal Canadiens 4-2. This win got them into the playoffs!
The Islanders still don’t know which team will be their first round playoff opponent, but they’ll find out on Thursday when the Florida Panthers play the Carolina Hurricanes. Last year, the Islanders couldn’t make it to the playoffs which prompted them to fire head coach Barry Trotz in May.
Zach Parise said they have had a lot of fun playing hockey this season and now they are focusing on the strengths and weaknesses of the team they are facing, which is like a mental chess match. They will spend lots of time studying videos to prepare for their opponent.
The Islanders’ win meant that the Pittsburgh Penguins missed out on making the playoffs for the first time in 16 years, having previously held the longest active playoffs streak across all major sports in North America.
Hudson Fasching and Anders Lee scored goals for the New York Islanders and Ilya Sorokin saved 16 shots. Noah Dobson provided two assists as well.
Rem Pitlick and Nick Suzuki both netted goals for Montreal, and Sam Montembeault stopped 31 shots in their game that was just before their final one of the regular season.
Lee scored a goal that was awarded because of a power play at 16:01 in the third period. His goal gave the Islanders a 4-2 lead. Lee redirected a shot from Sebastian Aho and this was his 28th goal this season!
The Islanders coach, Lane Lambert, said that their power play needs to do well in the playoffs and he was glad to have the “monkey off their back,” meaning they can now look at future games with more confidence.
Suzuki scored a really clever goal while the Canadiens were short-handed at 14:38 in the second period. He was able to beat the Islanders’ defender, Samuel Bolduc, in a foot race and then used only one hand to shoot the puck over Sorokin’s glove. After the goal was scored, Bolduc didn’t play in any more shifts for that game.
Coach Lambert said Bolduc should’ve stayed close to Suzuki to block him from scoring, but because he was still young and learning from this situation it was okay.
Nelson scored his second goal for the Islanders to make the score 3-1 at the middle of the second period. New York had several chances to get points, and Nelson eventually changed the direction of Dobson’s shot at 10:20 with help from Scott Mayfield.
Nelson said, “This feels good. We had a terrific chance at home and we made the most of it. The crowd was great, and there was lots of energy in the room. We want more success now!”
The Islanders had 19 shots on goal in the second period, while the Canadiens only had 6.
Nelson put his team in the lead by scoring their 35th goal at 10:27 of the first period. He got the puck and fired a wrist shot from close range, which was too powerful for Montembault’s glove to stop. Kyle Palmieri and Adam Pelech got credited for assists.
Before Nelson struck, Sorokin made a great save with his right pad on Denis Gurianov’s attempt to keep the scoreboard blank.
Coach Martin St. Louis of the Canadiens said that it was really exciting at UBS Arena this evening, as everyone could feel the players’ enthusiasm for the game. He also thought that his team put a lot of effort in playing and it gave them some energy even though they won’t make it to the playoffs this year. All in all, there is still something you can benefit from every game.
Fasching scored at 18:57 of the first period to help the Islanders regain the lead by one goal. Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Parise had worked together to set up a shot but it hit the crossbar, and then Fasching quickly grabbed the rebound and put it in the net.
Right before that, Pitlick also scored at 17:38 of the first period. Jake Evans stole a puck from Dobson then passed it to Pitlick who was alone near the circle and fired off a one-timer shot that tied things up again.
Canadiens forward Joel Teasdale recently had his first NHL game. Josh Bailey came back after missing the last 3 games because he wasn’t allowed to play. Mathew Barzal and Alexander Romanov are both practicing on their own, but haven’t joined any of the team’s practices yet. This is because Barzal hurt his lower body part during a match with the Boston Bruins on February 18th, and Romanov’s upper body got injured when playing against Tampa Bay Lightning on April 1st.
The Islanders will compete against either the Boston Bruins or Carolina Hurricanes in the first round of the playoffs. Before they can start the playoffs, they need to finish their regular season by playing against the Boston Bruins on Thursday. For more updates and news, head over to AP NHL at https://apnews.com/hub/NHL or check out @AP_Sports on Twitter (https://twitter.com/AP_Sports).
