Islanders' Matthew Schaefer has goal, assist in win over Sharks
Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer reacts after center Casey Cizikas scored against the San Jose Sharks in the first period of an NHL game at UBS Arena on Tuesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The UBS Arena crowd was chanting Mathew Schaefer’s name. In a game featuring three of the NHL’s bright young talents, the No. 1 overall pick stood out with a goal and an assist in his historic performance as he became the youngest defenseman in league history at 18 years, 46 days to score the winner.
“His most complete game,” coach Patrick Roy said. “He was good offensively and defensively.”
Yet the Islanders would not have extended their winning streak to three games with a 4-3 victory over the winless Sharks on Tuesday night without Ilya Sorokin’s best outing of the season.
Sorokin made 33 saves for the Islanders (3-3-0), who were downright terrible in turning the puck over in the first period despite taking a 3-2 lead.
He stopped 14 shots in the first period and made two key saves with the Sharks (0-4-2) skating six-on-five over the final two minutes with Yaroslav Askarov (23 saves) off for an extra attacker. Defenseman Ryan Pulock, Simon Holmstrom, Bo Horvat and Anders Lee all blocked shots, as well, during that sequence.
The Islanders did go 2-for-3 on the power play — allowing Collin Graf to open the scoring shorthanded at 8:29 of the first period — while killing off all three of the Sharks’ man advantages.
“It was an interesting game,” said Sorokin, who won his second straight to improve to 2-3-0 with a 3.90 goals-against average and an .873 save percentage. “Again, a lot of goals. I feel good and, in the end, the team made some great blocked shots.”
“I thought he played great because we weren’t,” Lee said. “We relied on him too much. We were turning the puck over.”
Macklin Celebrini, the first overall pick in 2024, brought the Sharks within 4-3 at 10:16 of the third period and Michael Misa, drafted immediately after Schaefer, collected his first NHL point as he set up Adam Gaudette as the Sharks tied it at 2-2 at 14:16 of the first period.
“Having Schaefer, Celebrini, it’s just good for our game,” Roy said. “Watching these guys playing, they’ll bring a lot of fans to the games. I know that, eventually, Matthew will bring a lot of people to this building.”
Schaefer scored his second NHL goal — prompting the crowd’s chants — by getting to the crease for Anthony Duclair’s feed to give the Islanders a 4-2 lead at 6:38 of the second period.
Even before scoring, Schaefer had extended his point streak to six games to start his career with a secondary assist on Bo Horvat’s first-period power-play goal to tie it at 1-1 at 9:26. It made him just the fourth 18-year-old — the youngest as he followed Wayne Gretzky, Sidney Crosby and Alexandre Daigle — and third defenseman in NHL history to do so. It also made him just the second Islander with a six-game point streak to start their career after Bob Bourne in 1974.
He can match Daigle’s NHL record of a seven-game point streak to start a career for an 18-year-old, set in 1993, when the Islanders host the Red Wings on Thursday night.
“I wouldn’t be able to do this without my teammates,” Schaefer said after logging 21:51 with four shots. “I really didn’t do much. They’re kind of doing it all.”
Lee, who helped set up Emil Heineman’s reviewed power-play goal to give the Islanders a 3-2 lead with 31.9 seconds left in the first period, insisted Schaefer is just being humble.
“He’s just a heck of a hockey player,” Lee said. “He’s making a big difference on this team and our back end.”
Notes & quotes: Defenseman Alexander Romanov (upper body, day-to-day) missed his second straight game . . . Forwards Kyle MacLean and Marc Gatcomb were the healthy scratches.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
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