Islanders Brock Nelson joins elite group of players

Brock Nelson put up an incredible performance against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night. His four goals not only sealed the win for the New York Islanders but his 6.10 game score is the second-best game score in the NHL this season.

Only Anze Kopitar’s 6.37GS from October 14 when he scores a hat-trick, two helpers, and seven shots on goal. A dominant performance by the Kings captain. And Brock Nelson is right there behind him.

Nelson’s four goals were the key to his dominance against Montreal. A goal-scoring performance that has rarely been seen in an Islanders sweater.

New York Islanders Brock Nelson joins elite company

In franchise history, only 13 players have ever scored four or more goals for the Isles. The last time it happened was on January 16th, 2015 at the hands of Kyle Okposo.

Here’s the list of players who’ve hit four or more goals in a game and how many times they’ve done it.

• John Tonneli (5 goals)
• Bryan Trottier (5 goals) x2
• Mike Bossy (4 goals) x8
• Ray Ferraro
• Patrick Flatley
• Butch Goring
• Derek King
• Bryan Trottier (4 goals)
• Alexei Yashin
• Viktor Kozlov
• Matt Moulson
• Kyle Okposo
• Brock Nelson

You go through that list and you see some of the greatest names in Islanders history and certainly the greatest scorers in team history. It’s incredible that Bossy was able to score four goals eight different times but was never able to hit five in a game. Only Trottier and Tonneli achieved five goals in a game.

Since 2018-19 no Islander player has even come close to scoring as many goals as Brock Nelson’s 75 goals. Anders Lee is next with 61 goals. Nelson’s 75 goals in 214 games played represents 0.35 goals per game. A considerable step up from the 0.25 goals-per-game through his 398 goals from 2013 through to 2018.

We’ve said it a number of times since 2018, but the turnaround in Brock Nelson’s game under Barry Trotz has been nothing short of remarkable. Thursday’s performance is yet another reminder of that.