Brock Nelson had a goal and an assist and the New York Islanders took down the NHL-leading Winnipeg Jets 3-2 on Tuesday night. Kyle Palmieri and Ryan Pulock also scored, and Ilya Sorokin finished with 27 saves for New York in its final game before the NHL trade deadline and a three-game west-coast road trip.
If this final game before the trade deadline doubled as the final game in Islanders colors for Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri, then it was a good one.
Pending unrestricted free agents Brock Nelson — No. 1 on many trade target projection boards — and Kyle Palmieri both scored and were the first and second stars, respectively, in a 3-2 win over the NHL-leading Jets on Tuesday night at UBS Arena in what may have been their final games with the Islanders.
All eyes are rightly on Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri, but those are not the only two players teams will be checking in on for the remainder of this week.
But, very notably, pending unrestricted free agents Brock Nelson — No. 1 on most trade target projection boards — and Kyle Palmieri both remained in the lineup on Tuesday as president/general manager Lou Lamoriello opted not to hold his assets out for protection. Nor, for that matter, was any other potential trade target protected.