Brock Nelson again a driving force in Islanders' playoff-clinching win

The Islanders leaned on Brock Nelson all season. That didn’t change in the team’s 4-2 playoff-clinching win over Montreal on Wednesday night.

Nelson scored twice against the Canadiens, including the eventual winner midway through the second period.

The 31-year-old center registered a career-high 75 points this season, including 36 goals, one short of his regular-season best a year ago.

“You always want to be a guy that’s counted on, go out there and help the team in any fashion,” Nelson said Wednesday night. “It just feels good right now to know that we got in and gave ourselves a chance. I’m just proud of the group for never giving up throughout the course of the season.”

Nelson, drafted by the Islanders in the 2010 first round, played all 82 games this season for the fourth time in his career. Earlier this season, Nelson became the first back-to-back 30-goal scorer to wear an Islanders sweater since Anders Lee did it from 2016-2018.

“He’s had a phenomenal season,” Lee said Wednesday night. “We’ve leaned on him for big moments and goals for many years, not just this year, and that was no different tonight.”

Nelson’s scoring presence became paramount when winger Mathew Barzal suffered an injury against Boston on February 18.

Barzal missed the final 23 games of the regular season and is listed as day-to-day before the playoffs.

“I almost feel as if we potentially got written off a little bit when Barzal went down, and we rallied,” Islanders winger Zach Parise said Wednesday night. “We put together a pretty good record from then on to put ourselves in this spot. I’m sure you could point to a lot of different times in the season that got us here, but here we are.”

Nelson scored 20 points (12 goals and eight assists) in Barzal’s absence.

“Brock’s been driving us,” coach Lane Lambert said. “He’s scored big goals when we needed him to do that. He’s really led the way.”

“He’s got poise, poise under pressure, and that’s part of a personality of his. I think he’s just used his speed all year long. He’s been very dynamic in his skating and has helped generate offense.”

Nelson thought his line of Kyle Palmieri and Pierre Engvall did some good things to generate that offense against Montreal on Wednesday night.

He said they're focused on bringing that to the postseason, where he has 41 points (23 goals, 18 assists) in 67 career playoff games.

“Just try to continue to build your game and be a guy that helps the team,” Nelson said. “Obviously, now you want to elevate it even more in the playoffs and continue that.”