{"id":534393,"date":"2026-04-01T08:48:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T08:48:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/534393\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T08:48:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T08:48:19","slug":"matthew-schaefer-focused-on-different-moment-after-making-more-islanders-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/534393\/","title":{"rendered":"Matthew Schaefer focused on different moment after making more Islanders history"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"New<\/p>\n

Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer (48) looks to make a pass during the first period against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center.<\/p>\n

BUFFALO \u2014 In a season that, regardless of how far the Islanders go, will always be remembered as the debut campaign of Matthew Schaefer, their rookie phenom made some more history Tuesday night. But, in the context of a 4-3 loss to the Sabres<\/a>, he didn\u2019t want to focus on it.<\/p>\n

Schaefer\u2019s assist on Anders Lee\u2019s third-period goal gave him 57 points for the season, moving him past Stefan Persson (1977-78) and into first place all time for most points by an Islanders rookie defenseman. He\u2019ll enter Friday\u2019s game one point behind Phil Housley for most points by an 18-year-old defenseman in NHL history, and Schaefer has collected 20 points \u2014 including seven goals \u2014 across the past 20 games.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously you hear things and people say stuff,\u201d Schaefer said when asked if he was aware of breaking the record, \u201cbut, I mean, I don\u2019t really care. I mean, obviously, it\u2019s something pretty cool, and there\u2019s so many great players that have gone through this organization and things like that. I\u2019ve put up so many points, but at the end of the day, we\u2019re in a playoff push right now and this was a big game.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Matthew<\/p>\n

Matthew Schaefer looks to make a pass during the first period of the Islanders\u2019 4-3 loss to the Sabres on March 31, 2026 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo. Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

At that moment, Schaefer was more concerned about being on the ice for the Sabres\u2019 game-winning goal, when Alex Tuch pulled possession around the net and fed Peyton Krebs in front. \u201cI mean, if that doesn\u2019t go in it\u2019s still a tie game,\u201d he said. Schaefer was in front of the crease when the puck snuck past him and went right to Krebs\u2019 stick.<\/p>\n

And that moment was enough to take away from his historic night.<\/p>\n

The Islanders were forced to operate without a piece of their power play and a consistent offensive producer Tuesday, as Simon Holmstrom didn\u2019t play due to an upper-body injury and was listed as day to day by head coach Patrick Roy.<\/p>\n

That meant Anthony Duclair, who hadn\u2019t appeared in a game since March 21 amid another roller coaster of a season, slotted back into the lineup, skating alongside Mathew Barzal and Brayden Schenn on the second line. He finished with 11:29 of ice time and didn\u2019t attempt a shot. Holmstrom, who has collected 19 goals and 30 points this season, had finished the Islanders\u2019 game Monday.<\/p>\n

\"Anders<\/p>\n

Anders Lee (27) and Sam Carrick (10) fight during the third period of the Islanders\u2019 road loss to the Sabres. AP<\/p>\n

When asked what he wanted to see from Duclair during his return to the lineup, Roy, during his answer pregame, cited his connection with Barzal earlier in the season. Duclair strung together 13 points in 13 January games \u2014 including a hat trick against the Devils on Jan. 6.<\/p>\n

He only managed one point across the eight games he has appeared in since, though, but Roy wanted to see if that Barzal chemistry could work again.<\/p>\n

Roy didn\u2019t think the fight between Lee and Sam Carrick \u2014 which Carrick initiated to stand up for a hit by Lee on the Sabres\u2019 Josh Norris in the second period \u2014 was warranted. Carrick remained down on the ice with an apparent left shoulder injury and exited with a trainer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought that was \u2014 it was a very good non-call,\u201d Roy said. \u201cI don\u2019t think we needed that fight personally, but, I mean, [Lee] looked good.\u201d<\/p>\n

The AHL Board of Governors unanimously approved the relocation of Bridgeport \u2014 the Islanders minor league affiliate \u2014 to Hamilton, Ontario, the league announced. The move will happen for the 2026-27 season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer (48) looks to make a pass during the first period against the Buffalo Sabres…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":534394,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5110],"tags":[6452,8493,5976,1287,229,5,122,5345,8024,1951,374,3328,159,5190,5189,4,11077,5920,4652,25690,4937],"class_list":{"0":"post-534393","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-islanders","8":"tag-alex-tuch","9":"tag-anders-lee","10":"tag-anthony-duclair","11":"tag-brayden-schenn","12":"tag-buffalo-sabres","13":"tag-hockey","14":"tag-islanders","15":"tag-josh-norris","16":"tag-keybank-center","17":"tag-mathew-barzal","18":"tag-matthew-schaefer","19":"tag-new-york","20":"tag-new-york-islanders","21":"tag-newyork","22":"tag-newyorkislanders","23":"tag-nhl","24":"tag-peyton-krebs","25":"tag-sam-carrick","26":"tag-simon-holmstrom","27":"tag-stefan-persson","28":"tag-the-islanders"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}