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New York Islanders winger Anders Lee scored again in the team’s 5-4 win over the Florida Panthers on Tuesday, which should be wholly unsurprising news to anyone who has followed him over the past year. Arguably the NHL’s best kept secret right now, Lee is the hottest goal scorer in the league that nobody is talking about.
But this is hot streak is even more impressive than that. It’s a run that began way back on Nov. 23, 2016, when Lee scored two goals in a loss to the Kings in a performance that ended a one-goal-in-18-games slump for the winger. Since that day, he’s been one of the best players in the NHL.
Usually racking up goals like nobody’s business is the best way to turn heads in hockey, but Lee has somehow eluded the national spotlight despite his scorching play. With five goals in the past four games, he’s now fourth in the NHL in that category behind Alex Ovechkin, Nikita Kucherov, and teammate John Tavares. Pretty good company.
Here’s a look at the top NHL goal scorers from Nov. 23, 2016 through today.
1. Nikita Kucherov, 50 goals
2. Anders Lee, 49 goals
3. Auston Matthews, 47 goals
T4. Filip Forsberg, 44 goals
T4. Vladimir Tarasenko, 44 goals
T4. Alex Ovechkin, 44 goals
T4. Sidney Crosby, 44 goals
8. Brad Marchand, 42 goals
T9. Evander Kane, 40 goals
T9. John Tavares, 40 goals
But this is the kind of production that he’s brought to the Islanders since shaking off that slump early last season. He scored 33 goals in the final 63 games last season, and has added another 16 in 26 games this season. Yes, those 49 goals came on just 224 shots on goal, and he probably won’t shoot 22 percent forever, but that doesn’t take away from what an incredible run it’s been.
That’s basically a who’s who of the most prominent scorers in hockey, plus Lee at No. 2. It’s remarkable to think that he’s scored nearly as many goals as Kucherov, whose emergence in Tampa Bay has made him a potential Hart Trophy candidate. Lee, meanwhile, is hardly even the biggest name on his own team.
Part of the success stems from being put in a favorable position. Tavares is one of the best centers in the league, and Lee has played most of his 5-on-5 minutes next to him over the past two seasons, per Natural Stat Trick. All 16 of his goals this season, and 23 of 34 last season, have come next to Tavares. It can be difficult to properly evaluate the performance of a winger like Lee when he’s playing so many minutes next to a premier center who elevates the games of everyone around him.
The results speak for themselves, though, and arguably nobody in the NHL has been a hotter goal scorer than Lee over the past 12 months. That’s an incredible accomplishment, even if few people outside New York are talking about it. |