Beauvillier, Nelson and Bailey Becoming Big Threat for Islanders

It was the line of Anthony Beauvillier, Brock Nelson and Josh Bailey who stole the show in the Islanders' best-of-five Stanley Cup Qualifying Series victory over the Florida Panthers.

Beauvillier carried out an applause-worthy performance with a team-high five points (3G, 2A). The lively winger also added two game-winning goals, including his the series clincher on Friday.

While Beauvillier may have collected the most points in the series, linemates Nelson and Bailey equally stepped up to help script the series win vs Florida. Nelson finished the series with two goals and an assist and took a team-high of 58 draws.

Seemingly behind the scenes at times, Bailey crafted some backstage brilliance. The Islanders alternate captain quietly compiled team-bests of four assists and three power-play points - both tied with Devon Toews - including assists on both of Beauvillier's game-winners.

"When Josh is playing and skating and doing all of that, he's one of the most intelligent players that we have on our hockey team for sure," Head Coach Barry Trotz said following the Isles series victory. "He's not afraid of big moments and he takes a lot of personal pride and responsibility. I thought he stepped up well today, he really did. Bails is one of those quiet leaders and takes a lot of personal responsibility."

Fitting of his quiet, but perceptive demeanor, Bailey choreographed cunning, yet subtle plays that led to pivotal goals in each Isles wins throughout the series.

In Game 1, the veteran winger earned the secondary assist in Beauvillier's first goal of the series and the Islanders game-winning power-play goal.

In Game 2, the Islanders rallied from a 2-1 deficit to claim a 4-2 win and extend their series lead to 2-0. Again on the man advantage, Bailey picked up a secondary assist. The right winger masked his simple pass to Beauvillier, who was planted in the high-slot, with a misleading glance towards the net. Beauvillier's one-timer skimmed off the shin of Jordan Eberle and provided the Isles with a third-period insurance goal.

In the series clincher, where the Isles looked to bounce back after Game 3's loss, Bailey served up two primary assists. The first goal of the game and Beauvillier's first of the afternoon, resulted from a dazzling effort by the trio. Nelson's forecheck created a turnover onto the stick of Bailey. As Bailey swerved past a Florida defenseman the puck popped out to Beauvillier on the goal line, who cheekily dished a backhand on net that trickled through the pads of Florida's goaltender, Sergei Bobrovsky.

Midway through the second period, the Isles converted their fourth power-play marker of the series that would finish 4-for-16 (25%). Nelson rifled his shot short side to score the Isles' insurance goal in their eventual 5-1 win. Bailey had once again deterred his opponent with his evasive vision directed on net, while he snapped a pass across the zone to Nelson.

"Playing with both of those guys is great and fun for me," Nelson said. "They're both highly skilled. Beau brings a lot of speed and energy. Bails slows it down and is able to make a lot of plays. [He] has some unbelievable hands. We just try to feed off of one another, read off each other."

Following the series, Trotz praised the line for their consistency and collective impacts during the big moments of the big stage.

In total, the line combined for 12 points (5G, 7A) and recorded at least one point in each game of the series and were all plus-one. Trotz also preserved the chemistry of the line as he used them in one of the Isles two power-play units where they produced half of their combined points (2G, 4A) on the man advantage.

The trio posed such a threat in Game 4 that Florida's coach, Joel Quenneville, used his last change advantage to match his top line of Jonathan Huberdeau, Aleksander Barkov and Noel Accari against Beauvillier, Nelson and Bailey.

Beauvillier and Bailey finished the game plus-two and Nelson was plus-one. Meanwhile, Huberdeau was minus-one and his linemates salvaged an even rating.

"I thought we've done some good things offensively, five-on-five, to generate some scoring chances," Nelson said. "Playing with those two is nice and you want to help the team offensively."

For the line, this is just the second act following an extended intermission. During the regular season, the line saw action together for all 68 games, according to Natural Stat Trick's Line Tool function and were intact prior to the NHL's pause in mid-March.

Each individual of the trio finished among the top-five of the team in at least one of goals, assists or points. Nelson and Beauvillier each established new career-highs, as Nelson recorded 54 points and five game-winning goals and matched his previous career-bests of 26 goals and 28 assists.

Beauvillier set new personal bests with his 39 points and 21 assists, while Bailey recorded the second-most assists on the Isles with 29 (43 points).

Reuniting following the NHL's pause made for a seamless transition for the threesome to pick up where they had left off. Now, as the Isles have officially punched their ticket to the First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs - where they'll face the Washington Capitals - Beauvillier, Nelson and Bailey, hope to keep the show going.

"We're moving the puck really well," Beauvillier said. "They are two really good players, Bails and Nelly, they're really smart players who can make plays, shoot the puck and create space for other guys on the ice. Just trying to feed off of them. It's been working well. We want to keep that going."