Gotta See It: Wahlstrom Does the Nielsen To Give Islanders a 3-0 Lead

Former New York Islanders centerman Frans Nielsen announced his retirement from professional hockey following the 2022 IIHF World Championships this summer. But his electric backhand toe-drag move lives on, this time courtesy of New York Islanders forward Oliver Wahlstrom.

Oh Oliver… 🤯 pic.twitter.com/rm8fgynqPC

— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) October 16, 2022

Here’s the goal again in slo-mo.

You're going to want to watch this again. 😍 pic.twitter.com/BmoTWBAC3O

— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) October 16, 2022

After an on-the-money pass from Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Oliver Wahlstrom broke over the Anaheim Ducks blue line with speed before making a strong backhand move to beat Ducks netminder John Gibson to give the New York Islanders a 3-0 lead early in the second period.

For Wahlstrom, he missed the season-opener as he was working his way back from what he called more of an upper-body injury. He had played the first three preseason contests but did not play in the final three.

In the first period, where the Islanders scored two goals, Wahlstrom only saw 3:21 minutes and had not registered a shot on goal. Wahlstrom was a player last season that often found himself on the bench more often than a usual goal scorer would as he struggled to grasp the system that former Islanders head coach Barry Trotz had in place.

While he was working his way back from injury, he spent a lot of time with New York Islanders skills coach Troy Stevens.

“I’m having a lot of fun with Troy right now working on my skills,” Wahlstrom told NYI Hockey Now back on Wednesday. “And, you know, I haven’t really had a skills coach like that in the last couple of years, so it’s awesome to just work on the game and, you know, focus on what I can do better to help this team.”

Those skills were certainly on display on Saturday night.

Wahlstrom also spoke on how important it was for him to get his confidence up heading into the season.

“For me right now, just keep working on the game and getting that confidence, find that confidence, and then go from there, whether I’m in [the lineup] or not.

Well, after a big goal and the crowd chanting “Wahlly”, it’s safe to say that confidence is sky-high right now.