Captain Anders Lee's Honest Remarks Following Islanders Elimination

After the Islanders fell 4-3 in a shootout to the Philadelhpia Flyers on Saturday, their hope of somehow making the playoffs came to an end.

Stefen Rosner

and

The Elmonters

Apr 13, 2025

The New York Islanders will not be playing in the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Their 4-3 shootout loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday afternoon sealed their fate.

After the game, team captain Anders Lee had no excuses, only honesty, when sharing his initial thoughts (H/t New York Islanders).

“This isn't a place we want to be,” Lee said. “It was, and has been, I think, a year where we left games on the table. We fought through a lot of adversity and did our best to keep our footing and give ourselves a chance in the last 15 games. But there were stretches at times that lasted a game or two too long and put us in a spot where it was out of our control. And so it's disappointing, no doubt, to not have a go at this thing. Let's finish the year strong. But yeah, not walking out of here the way we want to as a whole on this year.”

The Islanders struggled to get traction the entire season. They had one elongated winning streak in January, a seven-game heater, but outside of that, stringing wins together was a struggle.

“We didn’t get the attraction. We didn’t put enough together in a row,” Lee said. “I think, at times, those losses piled a game too long, those streaks, and we didn't find that mojo, that momentum. We were doing our best all year just to keep ourselves alive and keep ourselves in striking distance, at times, going through different things, going through different things with the lineup, and just trying to patch some holes. But as a whole, you put that together for 82 and you find yourself on the outside looking in, and it's disappointing. That's not where we want to be. It's not what we work for. And we have a job to do to finish the regular season, and we'll get to the rest of that later, but we got to start to reflect a little bit on what everyone can do individually, as a player, and go have a great summer and be ready to roll.”

Lee was then asked about the Columbus Blue Jackets loss, the one where Kyle Palmieri’s go-ahead goal late was disallowed for goaltender interference before a shootout loss. It seemed that the game may have served as a dagger.

“I wouldn't say it was hard to recover. It's just one of those years where it felt like we had moments like that, that it was going against us and we did everything we could to overcome that and come back,” Lee said. “But no, I'm not sitting here thinking, Oh, that Columbus call or anything like that. It's a big puzzle. There's a lot of reasons why. And we didn't put out enough of them.”

This isn’t the first time the Islanders have struggled to find consistency in the regular season. Here’s how things have looked since Barry Trotz’s last season:

2021-22: Eliminated in Game No. 75

2022-23: Clinched in Game No. 82

2023-24: Clinched in Game No. 81

2024-25: Eliminated in Game No. 79

Changes are coming. We fully expect that. But, it’s a puzzle. And it’s up to the Islanders to not only find the right pieces, but subtract some, as well.

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