Islanders top Maple Leafs despite losing Brock Nelson to injury

If the Islanders go down without Brock Nelson, it won’t be without a fight.

Nelson, who exited Tuesday’s 7-2 win over Toronto late in the first period and did not return, was the story of an otherwise brilliant victory over the Leafs, which on any other night would have made the Isles feel great about their position in the playoff race.

Instead, the Islanders’ leading scorer took a hard hit from Noel Acciari in the corner during the first period and, after taking a minute to gather himself, went up the tunnel and was not seen again for the remainder of the night.

The Isles have survived and thrived over the past month without Mathew Barzal, but adding Nelson — their leading scorer — to the injured list as well would be nothing short of disaster with the Isles in a tight playoff race.

Or at least it could be, if the Islanders didn’t possess an uncanny ability to rise to such occasions.

Instead of succumbing after Nelson’s injury, the Islanders put up seven goals on the Leafs, turning UBS Arena into a raucous festival which had no shortage of hate for John Tavares. Just like when Barzal got hurt a month ago, the Islanders turned things around right when you expected them to wilt.

A game in which Toronto controlled the pace early on began to flip 28 seconds into the second period, when Scott Mayfield found Zach Parise at the backdoor for a four-on-four goal, which tied the game at one.

But it wasn’t until Hudson Fasching’s wrister off a Leafs defensive zone turnover at 13:50 of the period to make it 2-1 that the Islanders truly started to impose themselves.

For much of the night, this was the Ilya Sorokin show, and netminder again made the stunning a matter of routine.

You can add a jaw-dropping first-period paddle save on Erik Gustafsson to the highlight reel — unbelievably, it’s the second time in just over a month Sorokin has made such a stop, as he did so on Kris Letang in Pittsburgh on Feb. 20 — as well as a handful of in-tight looks as the Leafs’ speed overwhelmed the Islanders in the early goings of this game.

Sam Lafferty managed to get the Leafs on the board after a point shot from Timothy Liljegren bounced off Mayfield, then Lafferty at 11:01 of the first period.

It was a flukey goal, but one that reflected the run of play to that point.

When this game flipped, though, it did so decisively.

Less than four minutes after Fasching’s goal, Cal Clutterbuck deflected Ryan Pulock’s shot past Ilya Samsonov to make it 3-1. It was Clutterbuck’s first goal since Jan. 5, and a fitting reward on a night when the Identity Line matched up at times against a high-powered Toronto second line of Mitch Marner, John Tavares and Michael Bunting.

It was Marner who threw a scare into the Islanders just 3:29 into the final frame, one-timing a feed from Auston Matthews to cut the lead to one.

But less than a minute later came Clutterbuck again with a wrist shot on the rush for his first two-goal game since December 2021.

Simon Holmstrom put a bow on it at the 10-minute mark, cleaning up the garbage on a loose puck in the crease, then Noah Dobson added an empty-netter with some six minutes to go.

Matt Martin would even get Acciari back for the hit on Nelson, beating him decisively in a short fight with 3:20 to go in the match before Anders Lee scored a seventh goal.

Another piece of good news: With the Panthers losing, 6-3, to the Flyers, the Islanders now hold a three-point lead for the top wild-card spot, having played just one additional game to Florida.

Their lead on the Penguins, who have two games in hand, is four points.

In other words: The Islanders are in the driver’s seat not just to make the playoffs, but to avoid the Bruins and instead face either Carolina, New Jersey or perhaps even the Rangers.

Say what you want about the Islanders: If they do indeed make the playoffs, it will almost certainly be with an underwhelming point total, and they will go into the first round as a heavy underdog.

But out of it?

Never.