Islanders: Brock Nelson & Josh Bailey Look Like They’re In Mid-Season Form

At many points last year, especially after the Anders Lee injury, the best line for the Islanders was the Anthony Beauvillier – Brock Nelson – Josh Bailey line. Tonight, the Islanders played their first preseason game, and Brock Nelson and Josh Bailey were once again on a line.

Anthony Beauvillier had the night off so it was Richard Panik joining the Iine. Early in their first preseason game, Nelson and Bailey showed that they are already are in mid-season form with this sequence on the first goal.

Panik came into the zone, hit Bailey who put a beautiful feed right onto Brock Nelson’s stick who followed his shot, got the rebound, and got the Islanders on the board. It’s perfect, exactly what you want to see from a line.

Last year, the combination of Bailey and Beauvillier with Nelson was very good for New York. They played 358:37 of ice time together at 5v5 and resulted in some good analytics for the Islanders. Here are the numbers according to Natural Stat Trick:

50.56 CF%

50.86 SF%

73.08 GF%

53.89 SCF%

61.29 HDCF%

78.57 HDGF%

In the playoffs, they took their game to another level. Josh Bailey and Anthony Beauvillier each had 13 points in 19 games while Nelson had 12 including 7 goals over that same span. The Pittsburgh series was their magnum opus.

Bailey had six points (3 goals, 3 assists), Nelson had six points (3 goals, 3 assists), and Anthony Beauvillier had seven points (3 goals, 4 assists) in the six-game set. Expect more of the same this year from this line.

Barry Trotz will rely on them heavily in 2021-2022 as they are very good offensively and are sound in their own end as well. Feed me all the Bailey and Nelson content early and often.