The Turnaround of NY Islanders Captain Anders Lee's Season

The mark of a good writer is being able to admit they're wrong. On November 16th, I released an article discussing the downfall of NY Islanders captain Anders Lee.

At that point in the season, Lee had only scored two points through the first 15 games. The captain, who was usually a big goal scorer and a necessary goal-front presence for the Islanders, played so dully. He was boring to watch, and head coach Lane Lambert couldn't force a spark no matter how many line combinations he tried. Lee played with Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri for just over 15 minutes together with little success before being moved onto the third line with fellow struggler JG Pageau. Pageau and Lee couldn't seem to find success despite both needing to get the monkey off their backs. By that point in the season, Lee had only had two games where he was +1 or above, meaning not only was his offensive game lacking, but his defensive impact couldn't even make up for it.

That same night that article was published, Lee scored just his second goal of the season against the Seattle Kraken. This wasn't just a regular goal; no, this was an Anders Lee goal. In the net-front battle on the power play, Bo Horvat goes to shoot, and whose stick is right in front of the open net? Lee's. A quick pass by Horvat, and Lee taps it in before Philip Grubauer can react. These are the goals fans and coaches expect from Lee every night. And since November 16th, it's like a switch flipped, and the old Anders is back.