Islanders top Senators 5-4 behind Lee’s late game-winner

By Canadian Press on October 18, 2025.

OTTAWA — Anders Lee scored the game-winning goal with 1:03 remaining to complete the New York Islanders’ 5-4 comeback win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday afternoon.

Lee stripped Jordan Spence of the puck and crossed over to the net and beat Linus Ullmark, who made 18 saves, five-hole for the winner.

Kyle Palmieri evened the score for the Islanders at 4-4 at the six-minute mark of the third, taking a drop pass from Mathew Barzal before snapping a shot past Ullmark.

With the Senators short-handed, Shane Pinto pounced on a loose puck and broke free before being hauled down by Matthew Schaefer, earning a penalty shot. He couldn’t capitalize on the opportunity at the 2:23 mark of the third.

The teams combined for six goals in the second period.

Pinto made it 2-0 at 5:32, scoring on a delayed penalty call. But the Islanders cut the lead in half when Emil Heineman found a loose rebound and tucked it behind Ullmark just over a minute later.

Bo Horvat tied the game for New York at 9:57 on a nice feed from Ryan Pulock to beat Ullmark short side.

Tim Stutzle put Ottawa back in front at 16:46 with his second of the season, beating Ilya Sorokin, who stopped 29 shots, glove side. However, 59 seconds later, Max Shabanov beat a screened Ullmark to tie things at 3-3.

Ottawa regained the lead when Stutzle found Dylan Cozens, who beat Sorokin far side with a wrist shot from the faceoff dot with 1:13 left in the middle frame.

David Perron opened the scoring for Ottawa with a power-play goal with 2:59 left in the first period.

Takeaways

Senators: Ottawa’s penalty kill was far improved and came up big, killing a 5-on-3 late in the first period.

Islanders: The Islanders were relentless in their play. No matter how often they trailed, they found a way to get back in the game.

Key moment

Sorokin made a big stick save on Michael Amadio in the final minute of the second period to keep the game within one, 4-3.

Key stat

With an assist on Shabanov’s goal, Schaefer now has a five-game point streak (one goal, four assists). Schaefer leads the team in assists.

Up next

Senators: Host the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday.

Islanders: Host the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2025.

Lisa Wallace, The Canadian Press