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Brock Nelson’s hat trick propels Islanders past Blue Jackets

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Brock Nelson (c.) continues his torrid scoring as the Islanders win again.Mike Stobe/NHLI via Getty Images

Brock Nelson (c.) continues his torrid scoring as the Islanders win again.

Subpar production from several expected scorers on the Islanders this season only had been compounded lately by recent injuries to the team’s defense corps.

But Brock Nelson continues to do his share offensively, wresting away the team lead in goals from slumping captain John Tavares with his first career hat trick in a 5-2 victory Tuesday over John Tortorella and NHL-worst Columbus at Barclays Center.

Nelson scored twice through two periods and then added an empty netter in the closing seconds for 17 goals on the season, just three shy of his career-high total from last year.

Ryan Strome also snapped a six-week goal drought and Brian Strait netted his first of the season as the Isles (23-15-5) got back into the win column ahead of Thursday’s home clash with the Rangers.

With the Isles suddenly missing two of their top three defensemen — Johnny Boychuk and Travis Hamonic – for multiple-weeks, the team’s offensive slump became that much more unpalatable for coach Jack Capuano, especially following losses by an 8-1 aggregate in the previous two games against Washington and Philadelphia.

“I think our forwards need to realize that they’ve got to take games over,” Capuano said before the game. “We do have a couple injuries. We have a couple guys filling in the on the back end just fine.

“I don’t care what kind of defense you play, but at some point, you’re going to have to get a couple goals to win a game.”

Islanders Thomas Greiss (r.) and Adam Pelech (r.)  defend the net against Blue Jackets' Jared Boll.Mike Stobe/NHLI via Getty Images

Islanders Thomas Greiss (r.) and Adam Pelech (r.)  defend the net against Blue Jackets’ Jared Boll.

Tavares finished second in the NHL in scoring last season with a career-best 86 points, but No. 91 now has just three goals in 17 games since Nov. 30.

Strome, a 50-point scorer one year ago, hadn’t scored in his previous 16 appearances, while Anders Lee has buried just six in 43 games after netting 25 goals as a rookie last season.

But Strome swept home a rebound behind Columbus goalie Anton Forsberg for his first goal since Nov. 30 five minutes into the game.

William Karlsson and Nelson traded scores before the conclusion of the period.

David Savard tied it off a turnover by Nikolay Kulemin with a knuckler past Thomas Greiss (18 saves) at 13:49 of the second, but Nelson connected for his second of the night with an unassisted flip from the left circle with 2:31 remaining in the period.

Strait connected from the right point for his first of the year and a 4-2 game 5:34 into the third before Nelson hit the empty net for his first career three-goal game with 11 seconds remaining.

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