Lee scores late in 3rd, Islanders rally past Senators

OTTAWA -- Anders Lee broke a tie with 1:03 remaining in the third period, and the New York Islanders rallied for a 5-4 win against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday.

"It was one of those nights," Lee said. "We kind of traded blows a little bit. I think both sides could go back and clean up a few things. I just think it was one of those nights where we're trading rushes and trading opportunities. You don't want to see that every night, but it doesn't matter, we found a way to grind ourselves back into this and simplify things a little bit in the third period."

Lee, who had two goals and an assist, beat Ottawa defenseman Jordan Spence to the puck, skated in on a partial break and slid it five-hole on Linus Ullmark for the go-ahead goal.

"The way it was going to come off the wall, if I could just get my body into him and get under him, I might have a chance to find the puck," Lee said. "And that's as far as my thought process got until I got it, and then I had to figure it out from there."

Kyle Palmieri, Bo Horvat and Emil Heineman scored, and Ilya Sorokin made 29 saves for the Islanders (2-3-0), who trailed by a goal entering the third period.

"Exciting. It was exciting," New York coach Patrick Roy said. "We had both teams generating offense on both sides of the ice, turnovers. But hey, we find a way to win and that is the bottom line to me. I think guys in this dressing room know that we need to be better on our exits, we need to be better in our D-zone coverage, but you know what? Offensively, we were good."

Tim Stutzle had a goal and an assist, and Shane Pinto, Dylan Cozens and David Perron scored for the Senators (2-4-0). Ullmark made 18 saves.

"Disappointing, for starters," Ottawa coach Travis Green said. "I thought our game got too loose when we had the lead, and a lot of things we took pride in last year where we were good, we weren't good tonight."

Perron's quick shot from the left face-off dot got by Sorokin on the power play to give the Senators a 1-0 lead at 17:01 of the first period. Arthur Kaliyev got his first point with the Senators with the secondary assist.

Pinto made it 2-0 at 5:32 of the second period with a one-timer from the top of the left face-off circle on a delayed penalty. It was his seventh goal in six games this season, and he has scored in five of those games.

"Should've won that one," Pinto said. "There's not much else to say."

Heineman put a rebound into an open net in front to cut it to 2-1 at 6:50.

Horvat tied it 2-2 at 9:57, finishing a passing play with Lee and Ryan Pulock.

Stutzle gave the Senators a 3-2 lead at 16:46 when he took a drop pass from Nick Jensen on the rush and beat Sorokin under the glove with a wrist shot.

"Turnovers cost us," Roy said. "We made some bad decisions, almost, at times, when they were on the rush that we could have played a little different. But we found a way. We scored goals offensively, we battled hard offensively, we got those goals, but what I loved was how resilient we were."

Lee tied it 3-3 at 17:45 when he deflected a wrist shot from Maxim Shabanov past a screened Ullmark. Matthew Schaefer, the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, had the secondary assist and pushed his season-opening point streak to five games (one goal, four assists).

Cozens gave Ottawa a 4-3 lead at 18:47, scoring on the rush with a wrist shot off a pass from Stutzle.

"I think we're doing a lot of good things, but we shoot ourselves in the foot every time," Stutzle said. "Doing small turnovers, don't get the puck deep, and good teams and good players make you pay. That's just not good enough there."

Pinto was denied by Sorokin on a penalty shot 2:23 into the third after he was tripped by Schaefer while on a breakaway.

"Today, it's a funny game," Sorokin said. "… I think it's a very interesting game and very stressful game for our fans."

Palmieri beat Ullmark blocker side with a wrist shot from the top of the slot to tie it 4-4 at 6:00 of the third period.

"Just a little immaturity there at the end," Pinto said. "We had a point in the bag, just should've played it safe."

NOTES: Schaefer became the sixth in NHL history to have a season-opening point streak of at least five games at age 18 or younger, joining Alexandre Daigle (seven games, 1993-94), Sidney Crosby (six games, 2005-06), Wayne Gretzky (six games, 1979-80), Sean Monahan (five games, 2013-14) and Ted Kennedy (five games, 1943-44). He also became one of five No. 1 picks to have a point in each of his first five games (Alex Ovechkin, eight games, 2005-06; Daigle, seven games, 1993-94; Crosby, six games, 2005-06; Eric Lindros, five games, 1992-93). … Pinto is the first in Senators history to score seven goals in the first six games of a season. … Sorokin has stopped all four penalty shots he has faced in his NHL career.