Bonjour, Islanders Country.
Well, that was fun.
The New York Islanders returned to the ice (and Canada) on Thursday, earning a 6-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens behind Brock Nelson’s four goals at Centre Bell. The win extended the Isles point streak to six games, picking up 10 of a possible 12 points in that stretch.
You may have heard the Buffalo Sabres made a pretty big trade on Thursday. We’ll explain the thinking behind Lou Lamoriello’s savvy move of sending Johnny Boychuk’s contract to Buffalo and put Nelson’s four-goal night in historic perspective. Plus, Lamoriello hits a GM milestone, and a pipe burst inside UBS Arena.
But first, let’s recap last night’s win.
🏒 IN SHORT: Brock Nelson recorded the first four-goal game of his career. Oliver Wahlstrom notched his fifth goal of the year. Sorey, QC native Anthony Beauvillier tallied three assists, and Ilya Sorokin was once again rock solid making 36 saves as the Isles were victorious 6-2 in Montreal.
🔑 KEY MOMENT(s):
🔷 Nelson got the Islanders on the board first for the sixth straight game just 4:14 into the opening frame. In the second period, the Isles scored four goals to break the game open, including three goals in a span of 5:17.
🔶 Zdeno Chara picked up the primary assist on Nelson’s second goal. Chara skated in his 1,616th career game, surpassing Larry Murphy (1,615 GP) for the third-most by a defenseman in NHL history and 11th-most among all skaters. Chara finished the game with a team-high 21:08 TOI, as well as three shots on goal.
🔷 Just under three minutes later, Nelson completed the trick, his first since Feb. 9, 2018, against the Detroit Red Wings, finishing off a two-on-one rush with Beauvillier. No hats on the ice, but he did get a Beau hug.
🔶 With 19 seconds to play, Brock buried an empty-netter to record his first career four-goal game and the first by an Islanders since Kyle Okposo did it on 1/16/15 vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins. He now leads the team with six goals this season.
3 TAKEAWAYS
❶ BROCKING AND ROLLING: Nelson was outstanding from the moment the puck dropped and was rewarded for it with four red lights. After his slow start to the season, Nelson now has five goals in his last four games.
🗣 “It's nice to chip in and get a couple. I thought our line played well. A byproduct of a couple of nice plays. [Palmieri] had a nice backhand touch on the first one. A couple of good plays from [Beauvillier] too. It's always nice to have a big night and when your line is contributing and all a factor, it feels good.” - Brock Nelson on his big night
❷ THIRD LINE THRIVING: The chemistry between J.G. Pageau and Zach Parise continues to get stronger and was on display Thursday night. The two were responsible for the Isles’ fifth goal of the night which was also Pageau’s first of the season.
🗣 “Playing with Zach is something fun. He's a hard working player that's always in the right spot. He's always there to cover you. It's been fun playing with him. It's fun for us to get on the board tonight. That goal was all him. He put it right there. All I had to do was just put it in. It was an amazing pass." - J.G. Pageau on he and Zach Parise finding success
❸ HELPING HAND: Anthony Beauvillier recorded his second career game with three assists. The other: April 20, 2021 (1-3—4 vs. NYR). He is the first Islanders player to notch three helpers in a game this season.
🗣 “We had a lot of guys going tonight. Obviously, [Nelson], our line was good tonight. [Pageau's] line [was good]… It's a team win. It's an identity win so everyone is happy. We'll get out of here with two points." - Anthony Beauvillier on the team’s offensive explosion
🗣 “I thought we started out really well, we established a little bit of our game. We had pretty good energy. I liked that we scored on secondary plays, we had goals from hard work. Parise did a lot on that play and got it to Pageau.” - Barry Trotz on his club’s performance
🤗 SORRY SOROKY: Barry Trotz really does love his team. MSG Networks caught him in the postgame saying he apologized after the win to Sorokin for costing him the chance at another shutout. What a guy.
⏭ NEXT UP: The Isles have an off day today before playing in Winnipeg on Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday. They then return back to the States to play the Minnesota Wild on Sunday night.
📊 STANDINGS:
📰 NEWS: The Islanders traded the contract of Johnny Boychuk to the Buffalo Sabres for future considerations. The swap, which gets the Sabres above the cap floor after they had dealt franchise center Jack Eichel to the Vegas Golden Knights earlier in the morning, also takes the Isles out of LTIR.
Boychuk has been on LTIR since before the start of the 2020-21 season when he and the organization announced he could no longer play because of the eye injury he sustained during the bubble playoffs. Per Cap Friendly, with Boychuk dealt, the Isles get themselves out of LTIR and add over $2M in cap space which will begin to accrue and be worth as much as $10M at the trade deadline.
🔒 REASON FOR DEAL: “What this transaction does, it really helps both teams. In our situation, it gives us the ability to take ourselves out of long-term injury, which allows us, with the cap space that we have now, to accumulate as the season progresses. Where even though you have cap space if you’re a long-term injury, you cannot accumulate any more cap space if not used as you go forward. That’s what it does for us.” - Lou Lamoriello on why they made the transaction
🔍 WHERE’S JOHNNY: He's back in Edmonton. He'll be there the whole season. As far as the future, "That's really up to John, we welcome back open arms in any capacity." - Lamoriello on where Boychuk has been since the year started
⛑ UNCLE LEO: Lamoriello made note that veteran forward Leo Komarov is rehabbing from an injury and will report to AHL Bridgeport once he’s healthy.
💬 STATE OF AFFAIRS: "We certainly feel good where we're at right now as far as where we're going. But, I think that we're capable of playing better than we have been." Lamoriello on the Islanders’ season to this point
📚 SOUND SMART: Brock Nelson became the 5th Islander to register a hat trick vs the Canadiens. The others are Ed Westfall (Feb 22, 1975) Billy Harris (Gm1 of a Semi-Final series on Apr 23, 1977) Clark Gillies (Feb 27, 1979) Mike Bossy (4 times: Dec 27, 1979, Oct 28, 1980, Oct 6, 1983 and Nov 11, 1984).
Here is a list, courtesy NHL Stats, of the most goals scored in a game by an Islanders since 1996-97:
🗓 ISLE REMEMBER: Lou Lamoriello served his 2,600th regular-season game as an NHL general manager last night (1,329-923-347 in 2,599 games), a mark reached by only two others in League history: David Poile (2,921 games; 1,451-1,115-355) and Glen Sather (2,700 games; 1,319-1,044-337).
🔗 Islanders trade long-term injured Johnny Boychuk to Sabres, by Andrew Gross, Newsday: “The Islanders, now at $80.01 million, got under the $81.5 million cap ceiling, important for cap flexibility as president and general manager Lou Lamoriello looks ahead to the March 21 trade deadline. The Islanders were able to exceed the cap ceiling by Boychuk’s $6 million with him on LTIR.”
🔗 Some Fans Will Experience An Islanders Arena Opening For The Second Time, by Peter Schwartz, NY Sports Day: “I went and I wanted the worst seat in the house so I took end arena and I sat in the last row,” said Seaford resident Art Feeney, an Islanders season ticket holder, other than the Brooklyn seasons, since 1972. “I looked around and I said this is a terrific place compared to the new (Madison Square Garden) to watch a hockey game.”
🔗 Islanders Weekly: Struggling to Build Momentum, by Jon Zella, The Hockey Writers: “It’s difficult to build momentum and consistency when you aren’t playing on a regular basis. Despite some struggles, their game against the Nashville Predators was their most complete to date, though they did have trouble clamping down at the end of the game, a strong point for the Islanders over the last few seasons.”
🎧 Hockey Press Pass Podcast: Gary Bettman is Not a Commissioner for These Times. The NHL Needs a Change, Chris Botta: “Everything has changed. And with more difficult moments to come, the NHL cannot have a leader who’s incapable of handling sensitive and devastating issues with grace and humility.”
And we leave you with this …. A picture surfaced on social media early Thursday morning that showed the stairs inside UBS Arena flooded due to a pipe bursting in the building on Tuesday. amNewYork’s Joe Pantorno reported the spill was cleaned up and will have no effect on the Isles or their schedule.
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I think an underrated part of this trade is the fact that, as long as they don't go back into needing LITR, won't have cap hits next year for 2021-22 bonus payments. That number could potentially reach about $2.75m. That's very helpful.