Matthew Schaefer Continues Ascent of NHL, NY Islanders Record Books

The New York Islanders haven’t been able to consistently generate a high level of offense this season, which has led to some up-and-down results on the ice.

Their longest streak of the year thus far is two; they won back-to-back games on Oct. 17 and Oct. 20 against the Toronto Maple Leafs and Anaheim Ducks, but followed that up with two losses: an overtime defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Kings on Oct. 22 and a 6-3 loss to begin their road trip against the Dallas Stars.

The Islanders have essentially been alternating wins and losses all campaign, a trend they would love to see come to an end. There is still a good amount of optimism that can occur, despite injuries piling up, is because New York has Matthew Schaefer on their side.

The young superstar defenseman had a historic rookie campaign, being selected unanimously as the Calder Trophy Winner. What could he have in store for an encore in Year 2? His production has not slowed down at all, as he continues to climb the record books.

Matthew Schaefer climbing record books

Against the Stars, Schaefer scored his second goal of the season. It was during four-on-four play that he sniped a shot past goalie Jake Oettinger off a pass from Bo Horvat to tie the game at 1-1.

That was the 25th goal of his career, which moved him past Bobby Orr for second place on the list of goals scored by a teenage defenseman in NHL history, according to NHL.com. The only player ahead of him is Phil Housley, who had 46.

Schaefer also moved up the all-time Islanders list for goals by a teenager. He is now in third place after he broke a tie with Tim Connolly and John Tavares, who each had 24 goals with the franchise before their 20th birthdays.

The star defenseman has now recorded a point in four consecutive games. That is the fourth time he has had a streak of that length in his career, which breaks another tie that he had with Tavares.

Schaefer now sits alone in second place with four four-game point streaks as a teenager. The only player ahead of him on that list is Bryan Trottier, who did it eight times.

He has been magnificent again thus far this season, recording 10 points through the team’s first 11 games with eight assists and two goals. The only player who has more points for New York is Horvat with 12.

If Schaefer can keep up this pace, he is going to continue rewriting the NHL and Islanders record books.