Brock Nelson has one of the sneakiest wrist-shots in all of hockey. He was able to showcase it in a gutsy 5-2 New York Islanders victory over the Washington Capitals Friday, Aug. 15 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
Paired with Anthony Beauvillier and Josh Bailey, Nelson has centered the best line for the Islanders all postseason. His go-ahead goal in the second period wound up being the game-winner, giving the Islanders a 2-0 series lead.
“They are a big, strong team and they’re going to have pushes,” Nelson said. “As much as we can stay on them and play our grind game, get some offensive zone time, get possession, jam up the neutral zone, it is going to be frustrating for anybody.”
After Alexander Ovechkin tied the game at two a piece, Nelson gave the Islanders a 3-2 lead and they never looked back. That goal ended a dramatic stretch of hockey that saw four tallies in 3:58 of play.
The final five minutes of this game were a clinic. New York shut down their opposition, keeping the puck in Washington’s zone for minutes on end. Cal Clutterbuck eventually scored an insurance goal, putting the icing on the cake.
“We are just trying to play the way we know how to play,” Clutterbuck said. “That is the strength of our team, getting back to that game. They’ve got a lot of different ways they can play and that is a great team. We’re trying to control what we can control.”
While the Islanders dominated the third period, the Capitals got the game started on the right note. Nelson won the opening face-off, but Ovechkin found the puck and put home a backhander to go up 1-0 56 seconds in.
“I like our composure as a group,” said left wing Matt Martin. “That is two games we have not gotten off to the best start. Once we started getting the puck behind them and playing to our identity, we started getting chances.”
The rest of the first period was scoreless. However, it did not stay that way for long after. Nick Leddy responded on the power-play off a shot from the point and Martin quickly followed that up with a backhand tip on a pass from Scott Mayfield.
Ovechkin then scored on a tip of his own to tie the game and Nelson quickly notched the game-winner 15 seconds later.

“I loved our response after they tied it up,” said Islanders head coach Barry Trotz. “We got a Nelson goal, which is huge. It’s one of those momentum-changers to get it right back.”
Since Trotz has joined the Islanders, the road team has won every game between these two squads. The Capitals will now technically be the road team from Scotiabank Arena in the Toronto bubble for the next two games, the first of which will take place Sunday at noon.
All quotes courtesy of Andrew Gross.

David Lazar