Matthew Schaefer plays role of superstar as Islanders beat Sharks for third straight win

No. 1 beat No. 2 and the Islanders got win No. 3. 

And it wasn’t just two points for Matthew Schaefer’s Islanders over Michael Misa’s Sharks in this 4-3 Islanders victory on Tuesday night at UBS Arena. 

It was, and not for the first time in a season just a couple of weeks old, a night in which Schaefer seemed to transcend everything else, in which he got an assist and a goal, in which the crowd chanted his name, in which the Islanders could feel completely secure that whatever comes from the next 76 games, they have a superstar in the making. 

In recording his first point of the night, a secondary assist on Bo Horvat’s first-period power-play goal, Schaefer extended his points streak to six games, tying Marek Zidlicky’s record for defensemen starting a career and putting him one short of Alexandre Daigle’s expansion-era record for players 18 years old or younger.

The other two 18-year-olds who had a six-game point streak are named Sidney Crosby and Wayne Gretzky. 

In recording his second point of the night, a second-period goal that prompted the chants to pick up around the UBS stands, Schaefer moved into a tie for the NHL’s scoring lead among defensemen. 

It has rarely been more obvious that the sky is the limit, and Schaefer looks on pace to reach it in record time. 

On nights like these, everything else seems secondary to the rookie, but the Islanders, three-game win streak or not, are wading into dangerous territory with their play. 

On Tuesday, as has been the case often this season, the Islanders played a confused and discombobulated game in their own zone. They lost puck battles. They were wide-open defensively and defended the rush poorly. 

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It’s hard to believe this can be a winning formula for long. The Islanders, though, are more equipped to punch back than in the past, and punch back they did on Tuesday. 

After a sloppy start, the Isles took a 4-2 lead into the last 20 minutes, which they’d taken after Schaefer put in Anthony Duclair’s feed from behind the net at 6:38 of the second. 

They did not make it easy on themselves from there. 

The Islanders came out lax and willing to absorb pressure in the third period, with San Jose only too happy to oblige. Macklin Celebrini scored off Dmitry Orlov’s feed to the slot at 10:16 of the period to make it a 4-3 game, and Scott Mayfield took a tripping penalty just 25 seconds later. 

The Islanders, however, killed off the penalty, and with Ilya Sorokin playing his best game of the season in recording 34 saves, they saw out the threat from there. 

Schaefer aside, it hadn’t been a pretty game from the beginning. 

The Islanders started the game in brutal fashion, struggling to break out or possess the puck and allowing a short-handed goal to Collin Graf after going on the power play. Less than a minute of game time later and still on the power play, though, Bo Horvat tied it at 1-1 off Mat Barzal’s low-to-high feed. 

Misa, facing Schaefer in a battle of the top two picks in last summer’s draft, recorded his first career point, assisting Adam Gaudette’s 2-2 goal 14:16 into the night after Casey Cizikas had put the Islanders in front. 

Before the first period ended, though, Emil Heineman made it 3-2 with the second Islanders power-play goal of the night, stuffing the puck in at the left post. 

Depending on the power play to cover up leaky defensive play is certainly an inversion from how the Islanders have operated in recent years. 

It would be best for the Islanders if they can mend their defensive issues before needing to answer whether this is sustainable.