Anders Lee's late goal completes NY Islanders comeback win in Ottawa

This was not the kind of win the New York Islanders want to bottle, but it is the kind of win they will absolutely take. Trailing entering the third and trading chances in a way that runs counter to Patrick Roy’s structure-first principles, the Isles still climbed out with a 5–4 comeback victory Saturday in Ottawa, capped by Anders Lee’s go-ahead goal with 1:03 to play.

“It was one of those nights,” Lee said after the game. “You don’t want to see that every night, but it doesn’t matter — we found a way.” Lee finished with two goals and an assist, including the late partial break that beat Jordan Spence to a loose puck before sliding it through Linus Ullmark. Bo Horvat, Kyle Palmieri, and Emil Heineman also scored, and Ilya Sorokin made 29 saves in a game that swung wildly in both directions.

Roy did not hide from the flaws. “We need to be better on our exits, better in our D-zone coverage,” he said. “But we found a way to win — that is the bottom line.”

The win also extended Matthew Schaefer’s season-opening point streak to five games with a secondary assist on Lee’s second-period goal. The rookie continues to log heavy minutes while driving transition play in ways that have drawn league-wide attention. Ottawa scored first, led 2–0 early in the second, then twice reclaimed leads that the Islanders erased. Tim Stützle had a goal and assist, and Shane Pinto scored his seventh in six games before being stopped by Sorokin on a penalty shot early in the third — a moment that preserved the margin for the Isles to rally.

From an Islanders standpoint, there is no illusion about the process: they were loose, they were leaky, and they required late execution to survive. But through two straight wins — Edmonton on Thursday, Ottawa on Saturday — the group has now shown something that matters in October: they can win on nights that are not clean.

That is not a finished product. But it is a good trait to uncover early.