Anthony Beauvillier and the New York Islanders entered their matchup with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Nov. 19 amid a 14-game point streak. The only reason it wasn’t a 14-game win streak was because of the team across from them.
The Pens came out hard, scoring twice in the first period to take a 2-0 lead into the first break. The Islanders were able to tie the game in the second before Brandon Tanev gave Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead that would hold after 40 minutes of play. After the Penguins went up 4-2 early in the third, New York came roaring back with two goals in the final 5 minutes to tie send it to overtime.
Brock Nelson scored the overtime winner, giving the Islanders revenge on the team that broke up their winning streak. A ton of elements went into this goal being scored. Let’s break it down.

This play starts behind the Penguins’ net with Pittsburgh’s Jake Guentzel attempting to clear the zone and start a rush. He is pursued by Anthony Beauvillier.
As he turns up ice, Guentzel drops the puck off to Justin Schultz standing in the corner. As this is happening, Jared McCann is turning up ice on the far side while New York’s Brock Nelson curls in the slot to pursue Guentzel. Schultz attempts to saucer a return pass up the boards to Guentzel.
Beauvillier, who ends up between Schultz and Guentzel in his forecheck, knocks down the pass. Nelson pivots and opens up, putting himself into a position to receive a pass. McCann continues out of the zone, leaving Nelson open.
Guentzel, still fueled by his momentum curls outside the zone, turning the play into a 2-on-1 for the Islanders. Beauvillier sends a pass to Nelson who moves in for a shot as Beauvillier heads for the net.
Schultz comes into the slot in an attempt to block a pass. Nelson shoots and Schultz slides past him but doesn’t lock him up. Nelson crashes the net, as does Beauvillier, and Brock finds the puck that slipped through Matt Murray and lay in the crease. An uncovered Nelson finds the loose puck and pots it to give the Islanders the win as Guentzel and McCann are too far away to help.
The goal is a result of a good forecheck from Anthony Beauvillier. His ability to knock down the pass from Schultz showed great hand-eye coordination and the heads-up play to Nelson showed tremendous hockey sense. Guentzel and McCann getting caught up ice was also critical in this goal happening as Schultz was forced to attempt to block the puck rather than defend the net.

Finally, Matt Murray needs to save this puck. There is no way this puck should be sitting in the crease. Had Murray made the save, overtime would have continued.
This goal will be remembered for a while, serving as yet another fantastic moment over the Penguins. Here’s to a future of more Penguin poaching and more goals like this in the future.

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