Arizona Coyotes goaltender Karel Vejmelka, left, stops a shot on goal by New York Islanders’ Anders Lee during the second period of an NHL hockey game Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023, in Elmont, N.Y. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
EAST MEADOW, N.Y. — Anders Lee is champing at the bit to get back on the Islanders’ first line, which all signs point to after he practiced on the left wing with Bo Horvat and Mathew Barzal on Monday ahead of the Islanders’ clash with the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night.
“We’ve played a lot of hockey together. We know what we’re capable of so we gotta go out and do it,” Lee told amNewYork. “It’s exciting. Let’s go, let’s make something happen.”
The 33-year-old captain and left-winger was in the conversation for first-line time throughout the preseason after spending the Islanders’ first-round playoff series against the Carolina Hurricanes on that top unit alongside Bo Horvat and Mathew Barzal — the trio accounting for just one goal in the six-game series loss.
“We didn’t produce in the playoffs like any of us wanted to,” Lee said. “But there were things that were positive and we can build off that. That’s long in the past. So this is a fresh start here to prove that it’s worth sticking.”
Starting on the third line flanking Jean-Gabriel Pageau this season, Lee posted just one assist in the Islanders’ first four games this season while Simon Holmstrom got the first crack at first-line minutes. Both Barzal (one goal, two assists) and Horvat (two goals, one assist) are flirting with an early point-per-game pace, but there is more to be unlocked.
Head coach Lane Lambert, who is looking for more of a “net-front presence” on that first line, turns to Lee in what is the obvious move for two playmakers looking to get a little bit more space on the ice.
“I don’t even know if it’s about getting him going, but it’s getting me and Bo going, too. Just mixing it up,” Barzal said. “There…
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