The opportunity came with 48 seconds left in the game. The Islanders didn’t let it go to waste.
Anders Lee had never scored a hat trick during a career that’s now in its 10th NHL year, a fact Barry Trotz would later say surprised him, given that Lee is constantly around the net. Now, he was being fed, again and again, with the Islanders holding a five-goal lead and a man-advantage in the final minute of a game that otherwise would have felt like nothing.
Instead, it became a moment to remember, as Lee — with just 1.3 seconds to go — completed a career milestone. The Islanders have a running joke about former player Eric Boulton running the hat trick club, texting new members once they get their first. Lee, nearly a year to the day after tearing his ACL, will have a text from Boulton when he looks at his phone.
“I’ve been waiting for that one for a while,” he said afterwards.
Following the Isles’ 6-0 win over Columbus on Thursday night, Lee has now scored five goals in two games. He tore his ACL on March 12, 2021, against the Devils — an injury that Trotz said, in his estimation, takes about a year to heal.
Asked about the injury on Thursday evening, Lee picked his words carefully. Everyone is playing with bumps and bruises, he said, and it’s clear he didn’t want to put himself ahead of them. That is typical of a player who, when Trotz took over as the Islanders coach and surveyed the team, was a near-unanimous pick as captain following John Tavares’ departure.
“I think it took me a little longer than I would’ve hoped for,” Lee said of his healing process. “It’s one of those things, you just gotta keep going and keep working through and right now it’s feeling pretty good.”
Lee never uttered the words 100 percent — and it may not be the case that he has reached that point.
“It’s one of those things, it’s not gonna feel like it’s completely gone for a little bit,” he said. “And that’s fine. I knew that going into it. It’s just one that maybe took me a little bit longer than I had worked or hoped for.”
Lee now has 16 goals this season, and 30 could be in sight. If the injury is still a bit of a factor, that’s an impressive mark in a season that’s gone so badly awry for the Islanders.
But as things have gone off the rails, he’s been a steadying presence in the room. That, ultimately, is why he wears the C.
“His voice has a lot of, I’ll say it has a lot of merit in the room,” Trotz said. “When he speaks, the guys know it’s genuine. They know that he cares.”
“I’m just happy for him,” Jean-Gabriel Pageau said. “The way he leads the team day in, day out, the way he comes in and works every day, whatever the result you’re gonna get his 110 percent. You just wanted him to finish and get the hat trick.”
As the Islanders came within a goal of reaching the Stanley Cup finals last year, Lee had to watch from afar. It’s been a long time since then, and the franchise is in a markedly different place than it was last summer. So, too, is Lee.
“I don’t know,’ he said when asked about the perspective the last 365 days have given him. “I guess right now, I’m grateful.”