He’s already off to an incredible start as an 18-year-old defenseman in the NHL, but on Sunday night New York Islanders’ rookie Matthew Schaefer set another historic milestone with a two-goal performance that tied the game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Schaefer opened the scoring at 5:53 of the first period, giving the Islanders a 1-0 lead before the team fell 2-1. But as time expired in the third period and the net was empty, Schaefer struck again with just over a minute to play, giving him his second goal of the game, forcing overtime and securing his first multi-goal game in the NHL.
What makes this feat even more impressive — aside from the fact that he’s adapting so well to the NHL — is that the two goals made Schaefer the youngest defenseman in NHL history to record a multi-goal game that passed Bobby Orr’s mark on Nov. 23, 1966.
Orr was only 18 years and 248 days old at the time. With his performance on Sunday, Schaefer is just 18 years and 58 days old – a figure that will soon be difficult to beat.
For Schaefer, however, it wasn’t about the individual performance. Instead, he was more impressed with what his team was able to do in the final minutes and overtime to secure the win.
“We really crushed them,” he said of the team’s comeback win. “That was a big change for the guys. Wow. I mean, it’s fun hockey to play and fun hockey to watch too, when your team goes to work and [gets] a couple of big goals there, and, you know, the last minute. So that was fun to watch and fun to play.”
The 18-year-old has had an incredible opening month to his NHL career, now with five goals and 10 points in 12 games for the Islanders. Not only does that lead to more goals for all defenders, but his 10 points are also third-highest among defenders in the entire league. As for his rookie counterparts, he leads the freshmen in goals and is tied with Ivan Demidov for the overall rookie point lead.
Although it’s only 12 games, the Islanders and their fans are hoping they can keep going during Schaefer’s first regular season in the NHL.
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