NEW YORK -- Center Brock Nelson carefully organized his equipment atop his locker late Tuesday night. He didn't have to make room for a memento from his first career hat trick -- and the unlikely and unassuming leading scorer for the New York Islanders was just fine with that.

Nelson capped off a hat trick by scoring an empty netter with 10.8 seconds left Tuesday night, when the Islanders snapped out of a two-game funk with a 5-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Barclays Center.

The first hat trick for Nelson since Feb. 2, 2013, when he was playing for Bridgeport of the AHL, gave him 17 goals this season and vaulted him past center Frans Nielsen (14 goals) and All-Star center John Tavares (15 goals) into sole possession of the team lead.

"This was your first?" an Islanders staffer said before apologizing to Nelson for not saving the milestone puck. Nelson smiled, shrugged and told the staffer not to worry about it, though he did acknowledge the hat trick was a meaningful accomplishment.

"It's pretty cool," Nelson said. "It's a tough league to score in. Something I'll remember. Some guys don't ever get the opportunity. I was able to get back out there with Frans and just find the puck and race it down."

Nelson's third goal came after the Islanders killed off a power play in which the Blue Jackets collected just two shots despite pulling goalie Anton Forsberg and playing with an extra attacker the entire time.

A loose puck skittered toward center ice, where Nelson and Blue Jackets defenseman David Savard arrived at the same time. Savard hip checked Nelson, but Nelson was able to get a stick on the puck as he fell.

The puck trickled into the empty net, after which dozens of hats sailed on to the ice. Nelson's hat trick was the first at home by an Islanders player since the franchise began play at Barclays Center in October.

"I thought I had a pretty good jump, but we were kind of stride for stride," Nelson said. "I was just able to (hit) it enough. To be honest, I didn't think it was going to hit the net. But luckily it went in."

Nelson's first two goals snapped ties. With eight minutes left in the first, Nelson fired a shot under Blue Jackets center Gregory Campbell that sailed under the left armpit of Forsberg to give the Islanders a 2-1 lead.

With 2:31 remaining in the second, Nelson outraced Savard to the puck near center ice and skated up along the left side with center Josh Bailey a few feet to his right. After faking a pass to Bailey, Nelson sent a shot past Forsberg to snap a 2-2 tie.

Islanders head coach Jack Capuano saw those goals as examples of the progress Nelson has made over his first three NHL seasons. Nelson is just three goals shy of tying his career-high, set last season.

"Good things are happening when he gets pucks to the net," Capuano said. "That's one thing in his game that he needs to work on, and he works on it quite a bit. It's a quick release, using the defense as a screen, get the puck off quick, not trying to make the sexy play all the time. And tonight he was rewarded for that."

Center Ryan Strome scored the game's first goal 5:03 into the first and defenseman Brian Strait scored in the third for the Islanders (23-15-5), who scored just one goal in their previous two games and collected just 20 shots on goal Saturday in a 4-0 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.

"It's a good way for us to come back out at home after the way we played Saturday," Nelson said.

Goalie Thomas Greiss recorded 18 saves as the Islanders moved into a tie for second place in the Metropolitan Division with the New York Rangers heading into Thursday's game between the longtime rivals at Barclays Center.

Savard and center William Karlsson scored for the Blue Jackets (15-25-4), who lost four straight (0-3-1) and 12 of their past 16 (4-9-3). Karlsson's goal came 10:26 into the first on a rebound of a shot by defenseman Jack Johnson, which was Columbus' first shot after the Islanders racked up the first 10 shots of the game.

"It's unacceptable, it makes me sick," Blue Jackets center Brandon Dubinsky said of the slow start.

Forsberg made 28 saves for Columbus, whose 34 points are the fewest in the NHL.

"It comes down to having a sense of pride and not wanting to be embarrassed, not wanting to be the laughingstock of the league," Dubinsky said. "And I guess until we get that in our heads that we don't want to feel that way, we're going to continue to lose like this."

NOTES: The Islanders scratched D Travis Hamonic (lower body), RW Steve Bernier and D Scott Mayfield. Newsday reported late Monday that Hamonic will miss two to three weeks with a lower-body injury suffered Jan. 7. Another key defenseman, Johnny Boychuk, is out until at least the All-Star Break with a shoulder injury. ... The Blue Jackets scratched D Kevin Connauton, D Cody Goloubef and D Dalton Prout. Connauton was placed on waivers Tuesday afternoon. If he goes unclaimed, Connauton will likely be assigned to Lake Erie of the AHL. ... Blue Jackets G Sergei Bobrovsky missed his 15th straight game with a groin injury but skated Tuesday morning.