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A Year Since Anders Lee’s Injury, ‘Right Now, I’m Grateful’

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Anders Lee

Exactly one year ago to the day, on March 11, 2021, the New York Islanders lost their captain Anders Lee to a torn ACL in a contest against the New Jersey Devils, which put an end to his season.

How did Anders Lee congratulate himself a year later?

He recorded his first career NHL hat trick in the 6-0 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night, as he built off his two-goal performance from Monday.

“You always feel good when you score a goal, but I think it’s a combination of finding your spots, good looks,” Anders Lee said following the game. “I mean, you look at some of those ones tonight like the puck finds you too. So there’s some putting yourselves in a position to get a good bounce and just a couple nights in a row of getting those bounces.”

“And you know… also putting yourself in the right position. Some good plays from my linemates and teammates to get me the puck too on both ends.”

Following the win on Thursday night, Lee was asked about how he was feeling.

“Everyone deals with stuff, so I’m not the only one dealing with, you know, an injury or a lingering injury or whatever it is,” Lee said. “So it’s just what you would expect, I think without getting too much into it really because a lot of guys are putting themselves on the line every night.”

“I’m not the only one playing with bumps and bruises.”

Playing his injury down and making it about the team, not just himself,  was just another example of why Anders Lee wears the “C” for the franchise.

When asked about Lee’s perspective, having dealt with the injury, there was a brief pause before Lee said, “Right now, I’m grateful.”

At the time of the injury, Anders Lee led the Islanders in goals with 12 and was on pace to finish with around 25 goals in the shortened 56-game campaign. His absence severely affected the Islanders offense, but the group was resilient, going all the way to Game 7 of the Semi-Finals, where the offense came up short in a 1-0 loss.

An injury with an expected recovery time of six to nine months, Lee shattered that expectation as he was back skating in less than three months. Although he could not return for the 2021 playoff run, it seemed that he would be ready to go when the 2021-22 season began.

When training camp rolled around, there were no restrictions on Lee.

A player built on playing down low, winning board battles, crashing the net, there was some hesitancy early on. Although the ACL had healed, it was expected that there would be some re-acclimation needed.

After just four points (four goals) in Lee’s first 12 games of the season through October and November, Lee has 22 points over his last 36 games, with 15 goals and seven assists.

Teammate Josh Bailey was asked following Thursday night’s win about what it was like to see Lee get the hat trick.

“To be honest, I actually forgot, and then we got back to the bench I knew that he got the hat trick but I forgot that he hadn’t gotten one before,” Bailey said. “And then we started laughing because he could have had one and he passed to me with the empty net a couple of years back, which obviously didn’t allow him the hat trick.”

“So you know, we had a good chuckle at that, it was great to see it.”

Anders Lee has 19 goals and seven assists in 48 games played this season, with six goals in his last six games.

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