New York Islanders at Carolina Hurricanes

· National Hockey League

New York Islanders

16-8-9

Final
5 - 4

Carolina Hurricanes

17-13-4

Anders Lee's 3-point night leads Islanders over Hurricanes 5-4

Anders Lee scores winner for Islanders in 9-goal thriller

Ilya Sorokin stopped 36 shots for the Islanders, who head into the Christmas break with at least a point in 11 of their past 12 games.

“Any time you go into a break you want to be feeling good,” said Lee, the Islanders’ captain. “To get two points going into the break, get a few days rest and enjoy some family time is really nice. We will get back at it in a few days."

Lee has nine goals in the past 18 games after starting the season with one goal in the first 15 games.

“He has stepped up,” Islanders coach Lane Lambert said. “Like I said before when he wasn’t scoring, I did say it was only a matter of time.”

Brock Nelson, Bo Horvat and Mike Reilly each had a goal and assist, and Sebastian Aho had a goal for the Islanders. Kyle Palmieri and Mathew Barzal had two assists each.

“We played a full 60 minutes,” Lee said. “To beat this team you have to have everyone going and we really did.”

Stefan Noesen, Jaccob Slavin, Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen scored for the Hurricanes, who lost for the fourth time in five games. Martin Necas and Andrei Svechnikov had two assists each for Carolina.

Pyotr Kochetkov had 23 saves. He struggled in net for Carolina, which has been a season-long problem for the Hurricanes.

With starter Frederik Andersen out since Nov. 2 with a blood-clotting issue, the Hurricanes have had to rely on the 24-year-old Russian. Kochetkov had played better recently but floundered on Saturday.

“We’re probably riding him a little too much,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “You could tell he wasn’t as good as he has been and that’s probably the difference, right?”

Lee’s goal at 3:44 in the third period, to give New York a 5-3 lead, from an odd-angle was one of the shots Kochetkov would have liked to have back.

Noesen scored a power-play goal at 9:17 to cut New York’s advantage to 5-4. Carolina went 2 for 4 on the power play but it wasn’t enough to keep up.

The Islanders had a 3-1 lead after a hectic first period.

UP NEXT

Islanders: Host Pittsburgh on Wednesday.

Hurricanes: Play at Nashville on Wednesday.

Regular Season Series

NYI lead series 2-1

Scoring Summary

Goal	1st Period 11:19	Sebastian Aho Goal (1) Wrist Shot, assists: Kyle Palmieri (11), Brock Nelson (14)
Goal	1st Period 12:22	Teuvo Teravainen Goal (13) Backhand, assists: Seth Jarvis (13), Dmitry Orlov (12)
Goal	1st Period 14:43	Brock Nelson Goal (16) Wrist Shot, assists: Mike Reilly (5), Kyle Palmieri (12)
Goal	1st Period 18:25	Bo Horvat Goal (14) Snap Shot, assists: Mathew Barzal (24), Anders Lee (4)
Goal	2nd Period 0:59	Sebastian Aho Goal (13) Snap Shot, assists: Michael Bunting (16), Andrei Svechnikov (11)
Goal	2nd Period 14:12	Mike Reilly Goal (2) Snap Shot, assists: Mathew Barzal (25), Anders Lee (5)
Goal	3rd Period 1:56	Jaccob Slavin Goal (4) Slap Shot, assists: Martin Necas (15), Andrei Svechnikov (12)
Goal	3rd Period 3:44	Anders Lee Goal (10) Snap Shot, assists: Noah Dobson (29), Bo Horvat (19)
Goal	3rd Period 9:17	Stefan Noesen Goal (10) Snap Shot, assists: Martin Necas (16), Brady Skjei (15)

Statistics

NYI		CAR
24	Blocked Shots	8
12	Hits	16
8	Takeaways	5
28	Shots	40
0	Power Play Goals	2
3	Power Play Opportunities	4
0.0	Power Play Percentage	50.0
0	Short Handed Goals	0
0	Shootout Goals	0
35	Faceoffs Won	33
51.5	Faceoff Win Percent	48.5
1	Giveaways	7
5	Total Penalties	4
10	Penalty Minutes	8

Carolina Hurricanes Injuries

NAME, POS	STATUS	DATE
Alexander Nikishin, D	Day-To-Day	Dec 23
William Carrier, LW	Out	Dec 23
Jaccob Slavin, D	Injured Reserve	Dec 22
Jordan Martinook, LW	Out	Dec 22
Seth Jarvis, C	Injured Reserve	Dec 22