He’s already off to an incredible start as an 18-year-old defenseman in the NHL, but on Sunday evening, New York Islanders’ rookie Matthew Schaefer set another historical mark with a two-goal performance tying the game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Schaefer opened the scoring at 5:53 of the first period to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead before the team went down 2-1. But with time winding down in the third period and their net empty, Schaefer struck again with just over a minute left to play giving him his second goal of the game, sending it to overtime and securing his first multi-goal game in the NHL.
What makes this feat even more impressive – outside of the fact that he’s adapting so well to the NHL – is that with the two goals, Schaefer became the youngest defenseman in NHL history to record a multi-goal game passing Bobby Orr‘s mark back on November 23, 1966.
At the time, Orr was just 18 years and 248 days old. With his performance on Sunday, Schaefer is just 18 years and 58 days old – a mark that will be tough to beat any time soon.
For Schaefer, though, it wasn’t about the individual accomplishment. 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 grinded them out there,” he said about the team’s comeback win. “That was a big shift out of 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 all defensemen in goals, but his 10 points is tied for the third-highest amongst defenders league-wide. As for his rookie counterparts, he leads the first-years in goals and is tied with Ivan Demidov for the overall rookie point lead.
While it’s only 12 games, it’s a sample size the Islanders and their fans hope that they can count on continuing throughout Schaefer’s first regular season in the NHL.
