Islanders taking the ‘fun’ Matthew Schaefer party on cross-country road trip

LAS VEGAS — The Matthew Schaefer traveling road show is on course for its next five stops:

Thursday: Vegas (baby!)

Friday: Salt Lake City

Sunday: Denver

Tuesday: Big D

Thursday: Motown

All big-time places, and all new for the 18-year-old defenseman from Hamilton, Ont., who is introducing himself to the NHL quite effectively in his rookie season after being selected by the Islanders with the No. 1 pick in the spring.

What’s not new and completely in character is Schaefer’s matter-of-fact approach to the week ahead.

“It’s fun, even just the travel, playing cards on the plane and hanging out with the guys,” Schaefer told The Post after the Islanders’ practice Wednesday at T-Mobile Arena.

“I mean, you get to hang out with, you know, what’s called your family in here. We’re family, we’re close, so to come on a trip like this and battle hard and just fight for wins, it’s a fun time.”

The Isles trip began locally with a 5-0 victory over the Rangers at the Garden followed by a 3-2 overtime decision over the Devils in Newark. Waiting for them on The Strip are some players who intend to cut into Schaefer’s enjoyment.

The Post threw out some names and numbers: Jack Eichel (eight goals, 22 points), Mitch Marner (four goals, 19 points) and Pavel Dorofevey (10 goals). But Schaefer didn’t sound overly impressed.

“Yeah, it’s going to be a fun game. I mean, yeah, they’re a good team but we have a good team here too,” he said. “We’re focusing on two points and want to keep going in the right direction.”

The two points certainly shouldn’t be trivialized, even if it’s still two weeks before Thanksgiving in a regular season that lasts until mid-April. Entering Wednesday’s action across North America, just one point separated the seventh- and 15th-place teams in the Eastern Conference.

The Islanders are in that mix with 18 points but would be below the cutoff line on a tiebreaker.

Asked if the tightness of the pack presents an opportunity for the Islanders, head coach Patrick Roy said, “Yeah, I think everybody is saying this [same thing]. Everybody believes it’s open and it’s a matter of getting hot and winning some games. That’s why this is an important road trip for us.”

Roy said the red-hot Ilya Sorokin will start in net vs. the Golden Knights and backup David Rittich will get the call Friday against the Mammoth in Utah. Last season, the Islanders went 2-0 against Vegas, backstopped by Sorokin’s 63 saves on 64 shots.

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“I’m not going to focus on last year. I’m going to focus on this year,” Roy said. “We just need to continue to do things that we’re doing well so far.

“It seems to me that we’re playing well defensively. We’re cutting down on chances five-on-five, and the [penalty kill] was really good against probably the best power play in the league [in] Jersey. And when they had chances, Ilya was there for us.”

Forward Max Shabanov skated at practice in a red non-contact jersey.

He’d been working out on his own but this was his first appearance with the team since leaving the Oct. 21 game against the Sharks.

His injury wasn’t revealed beyond the catch-all designation of “upper body,” but Shabanov had taken a few big hits in the previous game vs. the Senators.

“It was good for him to touch the ice, be with the guys. It was very positive,” Roy said.

The forward lines remained unchanged from the Devils game but the defensive pairings were jumbled at practice due to the absence of Scott Mayfield. He was with his wife, Emily, who is expecting the couple’s first child. Roy said if Mayfield is unavailable Thursday, Adam Boqvist would step in alongside Alexander Romanov.