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From Mirror, wire reports
NEW YORK -- Brock Nelson scored twice as the New York Islanders beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-2 Wednesday night and clinched a playoff berth.
The win eliminates the Pittsburgh Penguins from the playoffs for the first time in 16 seasons. Pittsburgh needed a Montreal win in regulation to make its game at Columbus tonight mean something. All it is now is a regular-season finale between two clubs not going to the postseason. Pittsburgh hurt itself by losing Tuesday night at home to the Chicago Blackhawks, 5-2. Chicago came into the game losers of 11 of its past 12 games.
It's the first time since Sidney Crosby's rookie season that the Penguins did not make the playoffs. It's the first time center Evgeni Malkin and defenseman Kris Letang have missed.
Pittsburgh played 190 playoff games and won 103 from 2007-22, the most in the NHL in each statistical category. The Penguins reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2008, and won the Stanley Cup in 2009, 2016 and 2017.
The Islanders are awaiting the outcome of the Florida Panthers-Carolina Hurricanes game on Thursday to determine their first-round playoff opponent. New York missed the postseason last year, and that led to the firing of head coach Barry Trotz in May.
Hudson Fasching and Anders Lee also scored for New York, and Ilya Sorokin made 16 saves as the Islanders closed out their regular season. Noah Dobson added two assists.
Rem Pitlick and Nick Suzuki scored for Montreal, and Sam Montembeault finished with 31 saves in the Canadiens' next-to-last game of the regular season.
Lee scored a power-play goal at 16:01 of the third period to give the Islanders 4-2 lead. The Islanders captain redirected a shot from Sebastian Aho for his 28th goal of the season.
Suzuki cut the Canadiens deficit in half with a crafty short-handed goal at 14:38 of the second period. Montreal's captain beat Islanders defenseman Samuel Bolduc in a foot race and, with one hand, lifted the puck over the glove of Sorokin. Bolduc did not play another shift after te goal.
Nelson extended the Islanders' lead to 3-1 with his second goal of the game midway through the second period. New York generated several scoring opportunities on an extended shift in the offensive zone, and Nelson eventually redirected Dobson's shot at 10:20. Scott Mayfield also assisted on the play.
The Islanders outshot the Canadiens 19-6 in the middle period.
Nelson scored his team-leading 35th goal to open the scoring at 10:27 of the first period. The 31-year-old entered the offensive zone with possession of the puck and fired a wrist shot from the high slot past the glove of Montembault. Kyle Palmieri and Adam Pelech picked up assists.