Islanders' Brock Nelson finally reaches 30 goals, with 40 in sight
Islanders center Brock Nelson skates against the Red Wings in the third period of an NHL game at UBS Arena on March 24. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
BOSTON — Brock Nelson is a 30-goal scorer for the first time in his nine NHL seasons. The Islanders have 19 games left for him to reach 40.
“Why not?” Anders Lee said. “Let’s see what we can do here. I know he’s going to give it everything he has. We’ve got plenty of hockey left and we’ll make sure to get as many chances as we can for him.”
Nelson popped in No. 30 on a rebound with 11.3 seconds left in the first period of the Islanders’ 6-3 loss to the Bruins at TD Garden on Saturday afternoon. The goal brought the Islanders within 2-1.
Nelson, who has 11 goals over his last 13 games, had a previous career high of 26 goals, both in 2015-16 and 2019-20. Lee, in 2017-18, was the Islanders’ last 40-goal scorer.
“It feels good to contribute and to get that one at a time it was important in a one-goal game and then hopefully kind of springboard,” Nelson said. “It felt good for sure.”
Nelson, who has 15 assists, is nine shy of matching his career high of 54 points, which he set in 2019-20. The COVID-19 pandemic shortened that season to 68 games.
Palmieri's no-goals
Kyle Palmieri has 10 goals in his last 21 games but had his third goal of the month disallowed when a video review overturned his apparent equalizer at 11:46 of the first period because of a high stick. The Islanders trailed 1-0 when Palmieri got his stick up to deflect defenseman Noah Dobson’s shot from the right point.
“I thought it was in,” coach Barry Trotz said. “Honestly, I don’t know how they could have overturned that, but they did.”
Palmieri also had two goals disallowed in a 2-1 win over the Blues at UBS Arena on March 5.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
