The unstoppable march of time knows little resistance in athletics, and those who attempt to kick and scream their way toward the oblivion that is the realization that they cannot produce the same way they did a 12 or 15 years earlier are more often than not humbled in unceremonious fashion.
Then there are those like Anders Lee, the New York Islanders’ captain, who remains steadfast in his game to ensure that he is still very much a driving force on a contending team — and that his value remains undimmed by the passing years.
The 35-year-old winger is no longer a top-six forward who once scored 40 goals nine years ago, or even 34 eight years ago. He rebounded from a torn ACL in 2020 to 28 goals in each of the next two seasons, and when talks about a regression cropped up when he mustered 20 goals in 2023-24, he followed it up with 29 goals last season.
But the reality was that he spent more time than he maybe should have in the Islanders’ top six. New York didn’t have enough verve to make the playoffs last season, and Lee — along with a few other veterans who have centered one of the organization’s more successful periods post-dynasty — were written off by many.
It could have been an easy narrative to fall for. Lou Lamoriello was out as team president and general manager, and the young Mathieu Darche, with his new ideas for revamping a mediocre team, could have spelled the end.
“It’s the exact opposite,” Lee told amNewYork. “You’re driven more to prove your worth, to prove what you can do. That’s just not our line of thinking.”
Instead, Lee has graciously stepped up as a third-line left-winger alongside Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Simon Holmstrom to create one of the more dependable trios within the Islanders’ lineup. But that meant a demotion in ice time — his mark of 15:22 per night is his lowest in a decade — and a scoring rate that had significantly dropped. He scored 11 goals in his first 58 games, which was a full-season pace of just 15.
“That line’s been playing really well for us with [Pageau] and Simon,” head coach Patrick Roy said. “They clicked really well, and they work really well together.”
But then moments come along in which the embattled captain can show flashes of the goal-scoring threat that still very much exists.
He was in the right place at the right time on Feb. 26 when, with the Islanders trailing the Canadiens in Montreal 3-2 late in the third period, a Bo Horvat wrister hit off his arm and into the back of the net with 1:41 remaining in regulation. They would win in overtime.
Two nights later in Columbus, while trailing the Blue Jackets 2-0 midway through the second period, he knocked down a Scott Mayfield point shot with his helmet and shuffled the puck in to spark a comeback that eventually led to a second straight Islanders overtime win.
On Sunday night, just over a minute after Sam Reinhart scored with 1:58 to go in regulation to draw the two-time defending Stanley Cup-champion Florida Panthers level with New York at four goals apiece, Lee bound down the left wing, shruggled off the challenge of top defenseman Aaron Ekblad, cut across the face of goal on the forehand, and snuck the game-winner around the right pad of Sergei Bobrovsky with 30.9 seconds left.
“He’s been great all year, and to see him get rewarded for a play like that at the end of a big game like that, it definitely feels good to see,” Horvat said of his captain.
Lee’s style of play has often been thankless. While in the offensive zone, he usually lives at the crease or below the goal line, jockeying for position in front amid ceaseless abuse from defenders.
Yet here he is: Three key goals in three key games amidst the playoff push.
“He’s scored some big goals for us,” Roy said. “It’s nice to see someone be rewarded with the way he’s playing, how hard he’s playing every day. But he’s been a great mentor for a lot of guys, and showing great leadership.”
