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Top 3 Brock Nelson moments from the 2022-23 NY Islanders season

Ottawa Senators v New York Islanders
Ottawa Senators v New York Islanders / Al Bello/GettyImages
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As the New York Islanders' off-season continues without hearing from GM Lou Lamoriello and head coach Lane Lambert, we're going to take a look back at some of the best individual moments of the regular season for specific players that stand out as their most memorable.

NHL New York Islanders center Brock Nelson
NHL New York Islanders center Brock Nelson / Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

We start with the team's leading scorer: Brock Nelson

2022-23 was an All-Star season for the center and the fourth consecutive year he has led the team in goals after Anders Lee did it the previous three seasons. Nelson also was durable as ever this season, appearing in all 82 games, joining Lee, Zach Parise, Ryan Pulock, and Scott Mayfield as the only Islanders to do so. According to NHL PR, Nelson became the 12th player in team history with at least 30 career multi-goal games, and his eight multi-goal games this season are the most since Anders Lee (9 in 2017-18).

Here are 3 memorable moments from Nelson's 2022-23 season.

Wins Accuracy Shooting challenge at All-Star Weekend

2023 NHL All-Star - Skills Competition
2023 NHL All-Star - Skills Competition / Mike Ehrmann/GettyImages

It didn't come as a surprise to Islanders fans when Brock Nelson was named to the All-Star Game for the first time. The lifelong Islander has been steadily getting better through his late 20s and into his early 30s, emerging as the team's leading scorer the last two seasons.

Part of the fun for NHL fans is to watch your team's representative(s) take part in All-Star Weekend and you can argue that how they perform in the skills competition superceeds anything they'll do the next day. For Nelson, he was entered into the Accuracy Shooting competition, one of the more popular and traditional All-Star events.

While fans were in awe of household names and superstars Connor McDavid, Artemi Panarin and the Nazem Kadri, Nelson quietly went about his business, collecting the second-best time in the preliminary round and then beating Panarin, the New York Rangers All-Star in the semis.

In the final against Kadri, Nelson wearing a backward hat and the Islanders' reverse retro Fisherman jersey, looked as confident as could be, hitting the four targets in five shots in 12.419 seconds to be crowned the winner. He is the second Islander to win the Accuracy Shooting competition after John Tavares won it in 2016.

"There was a lot of talk early, guys were going, 'What was the best route?' I was going low left, low right, upper left, upper right. Just kind of stuck with that," Nelson said of his strategy according to NHL.com

"It was fun, it was cool to win that, not really knowing what to expect. Just go out and have a good time. It's something I'll remember, for sure."

Dominant season vs. Pens; OT winner in Pittsburgh

New York Islanders v Pittsburgh Penguins
New York Islanders v Pittsburgh Penguins / Justin Berl/GettyImages

It was one of the most consequential and exciting wins of the season.

On March 9th, 2023, the Islanders completed their first-ever regular season sweep of the Pittsburgh Penguins, coming from behind for the third straight time against Sidney Crosby and company for a 4-3 OT win. Trailing 3-1 late in the third period, Hudson Fasching and Anders Lee scored in the final 5:29 of the third period to steal a point and send the game into overtime.

There, Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin whipped his stick across the crease and knocked it free of Bryan Rust all the way to center ice and sent Nelson on a breakaway. Brock went blocker side to beat Tristan Jarry at 2:13 of the extra session for the win.

“I don’t know what the reason for that is, but we’ve found ourselves in that situation a few times,” Nelson said, “and we’ve been able to come out with victories.”

Nelson dominated the Penguins during the season, scoring five goals and adding four assists for nine points in the four-game series.

Setting the tone, finishing strong in season-finale

Montreal Canadiens v New York Islanders
Montreal Canadiens v New York Islanders / Bruce Bennett/GettyImages

After the Islanders received help from the Chicago Blackhawks when they defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins the previous, the team once again owned their destiny and could punch their ticket to the post-season with a win over the Montreal Canadiens in the regular season finale.

Your best players need to perform when it matters the most, and that's exactly what Brock Nelson did on this night. Nelson scored at 10:26 of the first period to open the scoring when he snapped a wrist shot through a screen to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead.

"Everyone was ready right from puck drop and fans were engaged," Nelson said. "They were loud the whole time, especially there at the end when the horn went off, so we're excited. We definitely wanted to get some playoff action in this building.

Leading 2-1 in the second, Nelson scored again, this time tipping in a Noah Dobson shot from the point to give the Islanders a cushion with a 3-2 lead. For Nelson, it was goal no. 36 on the season. That, combined with his 39 assists, gave him a career-high in points this season.

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